calvinnme ...for God's sake woman get rid of those candles! The idea of falling asleep with one hundred lit candles sitting directly on an extremely combustible wooden moon étagère would scare the crap out of me more than the idea of you needing more than one sexual partner! But I digress.This was Spike Lee's first directorial and writing effort. Since this was Spike Lee BEFORE he was a brand name, nobody was going to cut him any financial slack in his filmmaking. He had to cut corners everywhere. He got his family into the act - one plays main character Nola Darling's best friend, another plays Nola's dad. And Spike Lee even acted in the film himself as Mars, one of Nola's three lovers. He managed to shoot the whole thing for 175000 dollars and grossed almost eight million at the box office. Who knows what he's made off of it due to cable broadcasts and home video.The film explores the life of a young African American female artist, Nola Darling, living in Brooklyn, who has the same view towards sex and sexuality that many men have - she wants to play the field. She's not lying about anything, she just doesn't talk about any of the others to the one she is with at the time. Nola actually has three lovers - Mars - the fun and goofy one, Greer the sophisticate who hardly needs to eat because he is so full of himself, and Jamie, probably her soul mate. These guys rather meld into one entire man who is able to keep Nola happy. And then they find out about one another, with Jamie being the most wounded by the news.Years before "The Red Pill" and "Men Going Their Own Way", that seems to be exactly what is going on with Nola, minus the bitterness. In fact, during the film she is torn between cutting herself off from men sexually for awhile - going her own way - and this Red Pill life in which there is no dishonesty but many lovers. Nola LIKES sex in and of itself, isn't looking to settle down, likes her Bohemian lifestyle.For Law and Order fans, S. Epatha Merkerson shows up as Nola's therapist. The film was unique for its time because it had a completely African American perspective, was shot in black and white, had the characters talking to the camera about what they were feeling at the time, and had no pat answers, no neatly sewn up ending. As for me, I would have picked Mars. All he needed was a little career direction, and he was fun. But then I've always been a one man gal. I recommend it. I think you'll find it fascinating.

Jackson Booth-Millard This film is the directorial debut of Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, Inside Man), also writing, editing and producing, and it featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, so I looked forward to it. Basically Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) is a young, attractive, sexually independent woman living in Brooklyn, New York, she is juggling with three suitors: polite and well-meaning Jamie Overstreet (Tommy Redmond Hicks), self-obsessed model Greer Childs (John Canada Terrell) and immature, motor-mouthed Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee). The three men all have their good qualities, which Nola is attracted to, but she refuses to commit to a relationship with any of them, each of them want Nola for themselves, but she cherishes her personal freedom. The carefree sexually liberated lifestyle of Nola ultimately comes to an end when Jamie, Greer and Mars meet and compare notes on Nola, Greer justifies her behaviour claiming that she sees them as a collective rather than as individuals, while the other two are bitter of how little she cares for the three of them. Jamie realises that Mars and Greer are too scared to force Nola to choose one of three of them and losing her, so he lays down an ultimatum to her that she must choose a lover, Nola mocks this idea, and returns to him days later for casual sex. Jamie anally rapes Nola and mocks her, asking if he is as good a lover as Greer or Mars, following this she has an epiphany, she realises her promiscuity has turned Jamie against her, so she decides to call his bluff, dumps Greer and Mars, and tells Jamie she is ready for committed relationship with him. There is a catch though, Nola believes her promiscuity is the source of her inability to commit to one man, she wants the relationship with Jamie for the time being to be celibate, he initially rejects this decree, but eventually agrees. However the reunion of Nola and Jamie and any "happy ending" is dismantled, in a monologue to camera Nola reveals that she had "a moment of weakness" vowing to be celibate and be with Jamie exclusively, she cheated on him and the relationship collapsed, but she is vague about specifics or whether or not she resumed casual affairs with Mars or Greer. Nola proudly proclaims that monogamy for her was a form of slavery and that the lifestyle of promiscuity is freedom in its purest form, however it is implied that Nola remains extremely unhappy deciding to leave Jamie, and the film ends with Nola going to bed all alone. Also starring Raye Dowell as Opal Gilstrap, Joie Lee (Spike's sister) as Clorinda Bradford, Terminator 2: Judgement Day's S. Epatha Merkerson as Doctor Jamison, Bill Lee (Spike's father) as Sonny Darling, Cheryl Burr as Ava, Aaron Dugger as Noble, Stephanie Covington as Keva and Renata Cobbs as Shawn. Johns is her debut role gives a great performance as the strong willed young woman who has to "have it" and refuses to be tied down by one of three men, Hicks gets some good moments, and Lee himself as a fast-talking persistent irritant of sorts gets many of the best lines, he directs this very slickly, and it has a fantastically witty and sophisticated script. Filmed in black and white, the only floury into colour is a lovely birthday themed observed dancing sequence, with simplistic interactions and discussions of sex and commitment, macho egos trying to compete and of course the sexual scenes, this film shows that you do not have to have arguments or traumatic material to make an entertaining film, I would certainly recommend this fantastic comedy drama. Very good!

JonTMarin "She's Gotta Have It" was the beginning of an illustrious career for filmmaker Spike Lee. It starred Tracy Camilla Johns as the sex driven Nola Darling. Her three men were played by Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell and Spike Lee. All the three men had certain traits that stood out. Jamie Street (Hicks) is cool, calm and caring towards Nola. Greer Childs (Terrell) was the obnoxious, stuck up, rude pseudo black man that thought he was better than anyone else. And last but not least was Mars Blackmon (Lee), he was funny and outgoing. Annoying at times but his wit could win you over. This film is full of memorable one liners like "please baby baby baby please" and much more. This film was heavily criticized for it's depiction of women (like all of Spike's films), lesbians (the character Opal) and the reality of it. But nonetheless, "She's Gotta Have It" opened in 1986 to rave reviews and grossed 7 million dollars (not a lot but it is amazing compared to the thousands it took to make it). What made this film a gem is that you don't find characters like these anymore. They all had something about them that was hard to resist. Mars Blackmon became so famous that he was reprised by Lee in Nike Air Jordan commercials with the great Michael Jordan, airing from 1988 to 1995 (the Nola character also appeared in one Air Jordan commercial with Mars Blackmon, the commercial only aired once). "She's Gotta Have It" is a decent start for a young filmmaker and a must see for those that haven't seen it.She's Gotta Have It- Rated R *** out of ****

usbobcat Spike Lee's directoral debut is classic. How can he go wrong with a black and white film... BW is the best. This film is made up of great characters(Mars) and perfect, orginal direction. I think Spike did a great job with the editing too.. oh I almost forgot his screen debut as and actor too, which was perfect as well. A smile came to my face every time Mars came in the mix, especially the Thanksgiving scene. I love those glasses Spike. 9/10