She's Gotta Have It Information

She's Gotta Have It is a 1986 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee. It is Lee's first feature-length film.

The film stars Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks and John Canada Terrell. Also appearing are cinematographer Ernest Dickerson as a Queens resident and, in an early appearance, S. Epatha Merkerson as a doctor.

Plot

Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) is a young, attractive, sexually independent Brooklynite who juggles three suitors: the polite and well-meaning Jamie Overstreet (Tommy Redmond Hicks); the self-obsessed model Greer Childs (John Canada Terrell); and the immature, motor-mouthed Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee). Nola is attracted to the best in each of them, but refuses to commit to any of them, cherishing her personal freedom instead, while each man wants her for himself.

Themes

Nola idealizes having what men in society have"?multiple sex partners"?which symbolizes her as an individual struggling against the group. "A woman (or, at least Nola) can be a sexual being, doesn't have to belong to a man, and perhaps shouldn't even wish for such a thing." Above all, Nola's voice is the most revolutionary element in the film, a representation of African American women's struggle in society at the time.

Background

She's Gotta Have It was Lee's first feature-length motion picture as a writer/director and a landmark independent film of American cinema.

The New York Times wrote that the film "ushered in (along with Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise) the American independent film movement of the 1980s. It was also a groundbreaking film for African-American filmmakers and a welcome change in the representation of blacks in American cinema, depicting men and women of color not as pimps and whores, but as intelligent, upscale urbanites."

The film was shot in twelve days during the summer of 1985 on a budget of $175,000 and grossed $7,137,502 at the U.S. box office.

The film served as a turning point for the Brooklyn neighborhood where it was filmed. Lee portrayed the neighborhood as a vibrant cosmopolitan community where successful African Americans thrived, focusing not only on Nola and her struggles, but also on local children, residents and graffiti, revealing the struggles of the neighborhood and the people in it to the world. A public park was used for the setting of much of the movie. This public space is made to feel like a comfortable place for the characters, serving to encourage others to investigate public spaces in the area and creating a link with viewers in other places who had similar thriving public spaces of community importance. After the movie was released media attention was drawn to Brooklyn, from which a flood of artists and musicians began emerging.

Cast

Tracy Camilla Johns "? Nola Darling Tommy Redmond Hicks "? Jamie Overstreet John Canada Terrell "? Greer Childs Spike Lee "? Mars Blackmon Raye Dowell "? Opal Gilstrap Joie Lee "? Clorinda Bradford Dennis Karika "? The Trainer S. Epatha Merkerson "? Doctor Jamison Bill Lee "? Sonny Darling

Erik Dellums "? Dog 3 Reginald Hudlin "? Dog 4 Ernest Dickerson "? Dog 8 Fab Five Freddy "? Dog 10 Scott Sillers "? Dog 11 Geoffrey L. Garfield "? Dog 12

Reception

Awards and nominations

1986 Cannes Film Festival

• "Award of the Youth" Foreign Film "? Spike Lee (won)

1986 Los Angeles Film Critics Awards

• "New Generation Award" "? Spike Lee (won)

1987 Independent Spirit Awards

• Best First Feature "? Spike Lee (won)
• Best Female Lead "? Tracy Camilla Johns (nominated)

Current availability

She's Gotta Have It was released on DVD for the first time in North America on January 15, 2008, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment through United Artists and MGM. But despite the film's availability on DVD in the United Kingdom, the DVD release for Region 1 took longer than expected. For a number of years, the film could only be seen by the public on its now out-of-print VHS tape, or in occasional television airings on networks such as the Independent Film Channel.

In the mid-1990s, The Criterion Collection released the film on laserdisc. A well-supplemented disc, it was likely to simply be reissued on DVD by The Criterion Collection, which had re-released other Spike Lee Joints including Do The Right Thing. According to Lee's agent, the film was to be eventually released on DVD. But Jonathan Turell of The Criterion Collection ended that rumor, saying "No for She's Gotta Have It. We don't have DVD rights."

It was the first movie to air on This TV when it launched on November 1, 2008, excluding some stations that started offering the network on the day before it aired.

The current DVD contains no special features.

In 2010 the film was digitized in High Definition (1080i) and broadcast on MGM HD.

As of April 2012, the film is also available for instant streaming on popular video streaming site Netflix.