It’s hard to tell what qualifies as a Hollywood success story these days, let alone what might count as an honest-to-God happy ending. Case in point: Shelton Jackson “Spike” Lee, the onetime insurgent of American movies, whose career has played out as a rousing vindication of pretty much everything he’s said and done down the years.
Lee, now 68, is a national treasure, arguably as much an identifiable brand name as Martin Scorsese, David Lynch and Steven Spielberg. But the business model has shifted away from his style of picture, which means that he’s out on the margins again. He’s like the firebrand revolutionary who marches triumphantly up the palace steps only to find the place deserted and the stateroom in dust-sheets.
