Hustle & Flow (2005) Review by Stephen Bourne, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada http://www.geocities.com/iamstephenbourne/moviequips.html
Synopsis:
>From the moment that he touched the small plastic keyboard of that Casio traded for a quarter bag, DJay (Terrence Dashon Howard) couldn't stop thinking about it. How his life had come to this. Selling weed like a punk kid hustler. Pimping out his blonde girl Nola (Taryn Manning) from the front seat of his Chevy on these sultry Memphis back streets while his other girl, Lexus (Paula Jai Parker), made him a few more dollars grinding herself into strangers at the Showgirl strip club. Shug (Taraji P. Henson), his third girl, had to quit turning tricks until she's done being pregnant and useless in his dilapidated house. He used to actually be a deejay, spinning Dance and Rap at a legitimate job back in the day. Back when the world still owed him something and was ready to hand it over with a smile. "You ain't never gonna be nothin' more than what you are right now... my chauffeur," Lexus sneers at him. Fanning the fire in his belly even further. Letting those first few electronic notes ripple their stark beat into his bones. Exploding in a raw flurry of words and verses that DJay fights to jot down in his notepad while they're still fresh and untempered in his mind. He can't stop it. He doesn't want to stop this tormented urge to make his music again that threatens to unhinge this pitiful life he's stuck under. It's like God suddenly took notice of him. Nobody gets it except his old friend Key (Anthony Anderson). Key - now going by his real name, Clyde - followed his dream of being a recording producer, ending up capturing Gospel music at his church and barely making ends meet. He understands. Clyde has a sneaking suspicion that DJay is playing him, but those words are poetic truth and need to be laid down. Shelby (DJ Qualls), a vending machine stocker and pianist at Clyde's church also gets it. He may be white but, as Clyde tells DJay, he's just light skinned. The three of them hurry to set up a makeshift studio so that DJay can make his music about the brutal life on the streets that he's endured by his own making. There's no time to waste, because successful millionaire artist Skinny Black (Ludacris) is coming home on the Fourth of July, and DJay needs to make sure his demo tapes are ready. However, his renewed partnership is straining Clyde's marriage, and this cheap equipment they're using is undermining every effort to sound professional. Desperation takes over and something's got to give soon.
Review:
Holy cripes. This absolutely astounding cinematic masterpiece from writer/director Craig Brewer ('The Poor and Hungry' (2000)) is as close to the marrow of raw intensity as has likely ever been seen on the big screen in many years - if ever. The script rips into you straight from the opening scene and continues relentlessly to roll you around in its smorgasbord of unfettered jagged emotions until the closing credits. Quite frankly, it's better than awesome. It's off the scale. Every aspect of this hundred and sixteen-minute treasure is sheer perfection. Finally, music lovers and moviegoers are given the extremely rare opportunity to realistically feel as though you're actually witnessing the birth of a truly invigorating piece of music as depicted in a film about, well, making music at ground level. Scott Bomar's soundtrack is phenomenal - even more so, if you enjoy the particularly blunt and cuss saturated, hard edged genre of Rap featured here. It's scary, thrilling, ugly and hypnotic all in the same breath, and Brewer deftly captures every note with deliberate brilliance. Plus, you get an incredibly captivating story about this Memphis low life going by the monicker D Jay desperately attempting to turn around his dead end life as a volatile pimp through a fragile reclamation of his former musical abilities that exponentially consumes him like an addiction. Howard seamlessly immerses himself into the role, naturally interpreting and articulating this otherwise completely unlikable character in such a way that a paying audience can't help but root for his success. One of the best parts about that is in how it's shown that he simply can't do it on his own, and has no alternative but to change his entire parasitic mindset and begin relying on others - including those who he'd previously lorded over and mistreated. As with his music, watching DJay's transformation truly is astounding. Powerful. 'Hustle & Flow' also features a wonderful cast of top notch co-stars, which includes Taryn Manning ('White Oleander' (2002), 'A Lot Like Love' (2005)) as prostitute turned "primary investor" Nola, Anthony Anderson ('Romeo Must Die' (2000), 'Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London' (2004)) portraying old pal and perfectionist producer on a shoestring Clyde a.k.a. Key, DJ Qualls ('Road Trip' (2000), 'The Core' (2003)) as wunderkind percussionist Shelby, and Taraji P. Henson ('Baby Boy' (2001)) playing DJay's very pregnant housebound hooker and unassuming back up vocalist Shug. Each one these roles could have easily had an entire movie made about them individually. All of them feel real and completely believable throughout. The writing, and their acting, are both that superb. Nothing is watered down. Yes, the MPAA has slapped an R rating on this superior must-see gem, primarily for its sexual and drug related content, and the pervasive bad language that does become specifically annoying fairly quickly, but there really isn't any other contemporary way of telling everything that needs to be told here in as honest a way as Brewer has presented. This Sundance winner is one of those very few pictures that you'll probably come out afterwards wanting to convince everyone you know that they need to see. And, you'd be right. Definitely do yourself an incredibly fulfilling favour and check out this perfect example of high calibre movie making intended for mature ticket holders looking for clear signs of genius from Hollywood.
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