Well, last month was a scorcher huh? I don’t know if I have lived through a heatwave like that since thirty years ago. I remember back in high school just getting in my room, laying on the floor from exhaustion. Either that or my time was spent in the basement during the day. That would be the case, unless I was at swimming. This August wasn’t as bad as I remembered the nineties to be. However, it was still enough to drive one crazy, not unlike a certain summer on the Eastern seaboard.
The summer of 1977 was beyond intense in New York. It was the height of disco and dance floors were raging. Also, in Brooklyn, another rampage was taking place. This is the basis of Netflix’s latest in their Confessions of a Killer series, The Son of Sam Tapes.
Director Joe Berlinger painstakingly pulls interviews from David Berkowitz made with journalist Jack Jones in 1980. Spliced in between are interviews from other journalists, cops, and innocent bystanders. We can see the toll families of victims have endured in their anguished testimony. Berlinger has made a name for himself in the true crime sphere, directing the Paradise Lost series for HBO in the late nineties. Interesting factoid; his filmography includes Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, an absolutely perfect choice for a bad movie night around Halloween if you are interested. But don’t let that sway from watching this. Here the filmmaker is in his bag, working more like a seasoned detective along for the case.
Having read about that Sam case and watching Spike Lee excellent “Summer of Sam,” some details were already jogging around in my brain. But that didn’t mean that this doc didn’t reveal some surprises. The fact that two of the victims, Donna Lauria and Jodi Valenti, were gunned down in front of one of their homes still shocked me to see recreated in retrospect. Even more so, that some people actually survived the .44 caliber round.
A palpable sense of dread comes over the viewer as we learn of details like how Berkowitz treated his neighbors and their dog, the same pooch that barred the name of his moniker Sam. Berlinger gives you enough backstory and lore to David, looking into his family and home life that informed David’s outlook and, later, spurred him into committing these heinous crimes. Another highlight is how he treated his family after he found out that he was adopted and, later, met his birth mother. Like so many of these cases, it can be chalked up to how much you believe the source. Regardless I was hooked, highly recommended.
Another thing that makes for a better summer is some lightweight cool clothes. And there was no better in the early 2000s like American Apparel. My brother and I bought into their ethos and t-shirts. Their trendy marketing strategy of having staff as the models for the store was groundbreaking. However, that belied a dark secret; one that comes to light in part of Netflix’s Trainwreck series. I have to admit, I wanted to work at these trendy stores (Later my employment at H&M fulfilled the same interest). Talking with a handful of former managers and staff, we learn of the downright toxic work environment. Not to forget the unorthodox way the CEO, Dov Charney, lead his followers into the fray; even letting some of them stay in his mansion with him. None of this adds up to proper corporate policies.
At a slight fifty-four minutes, the information breezes by as talking heads spout on about various stories involving drugs and hedonism. When it gets to the sex abuse allegations, the topic is lightly presented without much mind given. Some would say for the better. These films, and others, continue to show us one crucial thing. No matter how weird things can seem now, they have always been worse.
