Da 5 Bloods

Spike Lee’s next directorial venture follows up on 2018’s critically-acclaimed BlacKkKlansman with Da 5 Bloods, an American war drama that centres on four African American Vietnam veterans who return to Vietnam in search of both the body of their deceased squad leader and the promise of treasure. 

The trailer uses “Time Has Come Today” by the Chambers Brothers; its 1967 vintage situates the track directly in the middle of the historical timeline of the film. After a 6-second micro teaser, we’re introduced with a caption to Hanoi Hannah (Trịnh Thị Ngọ), a famous Vietnamese radio personality best known as North Vietnam’s primary voice of propaganda, as she is making English-language broadcasts directed towards American troops. In the background we hear a cowbell, a subtle variation on the ticking motif now commonly used as an aural trope in modern trailers, and here as a presage to the trailer song. 

The first guitars arrive at 0:18 as we are given a montage of historical Vietnam war footage, with Hannah presiding over it in her commentary, very slowly building tension and energy as she wraps up her monologue. Notice at 0:34 how the first drumroll leading into the main vocal is accompanied by a billowing explosion, visually emulating the musical arrangement. This is quickly followed by the plastering of the song’s lyrics with a full-screen, bombastic title card, as we might  expect for Spike Lee. At 0:45 we get a visual snippet of the song being performed live by The Chambers Brothers, followed quickly by fully high definition footage of the film as its four protagonists venture back from the US to Vietnam. This comparison of low and high definition footage is aided by the backing track, whose audio acts as a constant that helps to interleave an otherwise somewhat incongruous succession of parts. 

This mix is buffeted by a steady stream of synch points between the sound and image, with seemingly no opportunity missed for a moment where the refrain (“hey!”) is accompanied on screen with some pivotal moment or action, such as the high-five at 2:01, a firing rocket at 2:05, or an explosion at 2:09 or 2:13. Note also how the character screams “hold on” at 2:15—and then the music slows down, as if in response, setting the proverbial stage for the final dialogue before the title card.

While a near top ten-miss in its contemporaneous release, “Time Has Come Today” is now considered a landmark album of the psychedelic era that has enjoyed a persistent presence on film and television. Its use for Da 5 Bloods is appropriate for its fit to the historical period of the film and is a choice that should be relatively familiar to the average audioviewer, with its various appearances across film and television. 

Moreover, what makes this trailer unique is the way in which it deliberately blurs the line between editing and tropes for a lyric music video and a theatrical trailer—sporting enough footage of the live Chambers Brothers performance, with large lyric captions and video effects, and other historical footage, to effectively counterbalance the various montage sequences and filmic scenes. The trailer editors seem to wish to impress upon the audioviewer that this film is as much a story in itself as it is about a historical moment, as it is also in some sense a comprehensive evaluation of a pivotal time in US history—told, of course, from an African American perspective.

Da 5 Bloods is due out June 12, 2020, on Netflix.

— Curtis Perry