Wristcutters: A Love Story(2006, Goran Dukic)

This is the last of the CMJ related posts, it sure has taken me awhile to finish them all. I guess I've been wasting my time elsewhere.

The other movie screen I got to see during the event was for the movie Wristcutters: A Love Story. This film is a feel good dark comedy about love and suicide starring Patrick Fugit and Shannyn Sossamon. Patrick's girlfriend breaks up with him and he decides to end it all. He slits his wrists but unfortunately finds that there is no end only an afterlife that is strangely similar to his old life except much suckier(is suckier even a word?). In this strange purgatory limbo where everyone who has committed suicide ends he, he finds a job at kamikaze pizza. Soon he is befriended by a Russian punk rocker that killed himself by pouring beer over his electric guitar while on stage, thus electrocuting himself. Patrick soon discovers that his ex-girlfriend has also committed suicide so him and Eugene(the Russian Punk Rocker) set out on a road trip to find her. Along the way they pick up Sossamon, who claims she's not suppose to be here and is in search of The People in Charge so she can straighten out this misunderstanding. They also come across Tom Waits who is running some sort of magical hippy commune.

You would never think that a film about suicide could be so funny and heart warming at the same time but that's exactly what this film accomplished. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this film, hell(no pun intended) I'm even thinking about going to go see it again, it was that good. Unfortunately though since this is what they call an independent movie,this movie might not be at a local theatre near you, but I really urge you to seek out this movie and see it. After the movie there was an Q&A with the director, Goran Dukic. He had said that the movie only cost $1 million dollars to make, which isn't alot in the movie making world. In fact that's only one 1/20th of what Tom Cruise gets paid for a movie. Someone than asked him what he would of did different if given more money to make the film. He replied, nothing except maybe have better food on the set and some air conditioning since they filmed in the desert where it hovered around 100 degrees fahrenheit. He said the more money you have doesn't necessarily equate a good movie and some times it makes a movie worse, case in point(my thoughts not his) all the new Star Wars movies and any Jerry Bruckheimer movie made, except Transformers which I did like.

Now I don't want to give up where the movie ends up but let me just say that sometimes the person who you think your in love with really isn't the person your in love with. I hope that makes sense because reading that last sentence left me scratching my head. And one more thing, you can end up finding love in the strangest of places, even purgatory.

Wristcutters Official site
Wristcutters @ imdb
Wristcutters Trailer

Related Posts: Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten, CMJ Music Marathon NYC, Photographing Michael Diamond, Brad @ Highline Ballroom, NYC
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Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten(2007, Julien Temple)

I got to see a screening of this documentary a few weeks ago, during the CMJ festival. Originally this wasn't the movie I intended to go see, but due to other factors it was the one I ended up seeing.

As you can gather from the title, this film was about Joe Strummer of The Clash. Julien Temple, the director also did a documentary about the Sex Pistols called The Filth and the Fury, but you might know him better as the director of that cinematic masterpiece, Earth Girls are Easy. I never listened to The Clash growing up or knew much about them. My knowledge of them began and stopped at their Rock the Casbah video. It wasn't until about a couple years ago that I ended up acquiring some Clash records(yes I still call them records although they were really mp3s) and getting into them. So seeing this movie was pretty interesting, in that I learned more about them(specifically Joe Strummer), how they formed and their music. You learn how Joe Strummer(not his real name of course) acquired that name, due to the fact of how he played his guitar. The thing that interested me the most was that Joe was originally a hippy of sorts and started out playing more of a Rock-A-Billy/Folk type of music and you can see that influence in some of The Clash's recordings.

Now like I said, the movie was good in the fact that it provided me with a bit more knowledge about Joe Strummer and The Clash, yet this movie had its faults and to me they are some major faults. The one that was the most glaring was that there are numerous interviews with people who knew Joe throughout his life, but not once are you given any information as to who they are or their connection to Joe Strummer. The movie watching experience would have been more enjoyable if their names appeared on the screen at least once, as they were being interviewed. The other problem was the length of the documentary, although it was only around 2 hrs long which is normal for movie nowadays, the pacing of the movie made it feel even longer. Towards the end of it I was getting really antsy and was just thinking to myself when is this going to end. The first way that this issue could be remedied would be to get rid of a few of the interviews that just didn't make sense or felt so out of place in this movie. The director freaking interviewed Martin Scorsese, John Cusack, Bono(with his corny sunglasses) and Johnny Depp who was still in character as Captain Jack Sparrow. These interviews just served no purpose, they didn't drive the movie forward or add anything relevant to it that wasn't already provided by the other interviewees. So with that said my advice to you if you want to see this documentary, is to wait till it comes out on DVD so you can watch it in chunks and skip past those interviews.

The one thing that stuck with me from the movie was Joe Strummer's definition of a punk rocker. He said a punk rocker is just a hippie with zippers. That's just classic.

Coincidentally or not, later that night as I was waiting for a subway, a kid probably no older than 15 comes strolling down the subway platform dressed in text book British punk rocker uniform of the late 1970's. You could of taken a picture of him and put it next to punk rock in the dictionary it was almost too good to be true. He had a 2 foot high mohawk sticking straight up, a Romanes style leather jacket with lots of zippers and tight black jeans on. I'm also sure if I would of gotten a closer look he would of either had a safety pin through his nose or ear and a bunch of extra ones on his jeans or jacket. Ahhh the youth of today.

Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten official site
Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten @ imdb

Related Posts: CMJ Music Marathon NYC, Photographing Michael Diamond, Brad @ Highline Ballroom, NYC
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Sarah Jessica Parker Sex in the City

The other day, when I was walking to work I noticed that they were filming the new Sex in the City movie on my work block. Well it wasn't too hard to notice because they had the whole road closed off on the south side of Bryant Park. There were also throngs of people jamming up the sidewalk because everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of Sarah Jessica Parker or SJP for short. Below you will see a very blurry photo of her. It was taken moments before a rather large movie security officer blotted out the sun and told me to leave the premises immediately. I also "accidentally " positioned myself in the backround for a few of the scenes so hopefully I'll make the cut and not be on the editing room floor.
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Resident Evil: Extinction(2007, Russell Mulcahy)

If your in the mood for a popcorn movie, with some scares, alot of great action, some good special effects and a whole lot of ass kicking done by Milla Jovovich then go see this movie. If not then don't go, hows that for a movie review. This movie is what it is and it doesn't try to masquerade as something it's not. I was going to talk about the plot and premise of this movie but it doesn't really matter and is really just secondary, the plot is just a means to fuel all the action/fight sequences.

This is the third installment of the Resident Evil movie franchise and I fully expect at least another one in the future due to the very very open ended ending that was in the movie and plus the fact that these movies make a butt load of money. I won't give away any spoilers but your left hanging on a couple plot points and they basically set up the next movie with the end of this one. In fact they just should of put to be continued at the end of the movie.

So to make a short review even short if you want to see Milla Jovovich kick some zombie ass then go see this movie. Ali Larter of Heroes fame also stars in this movie and gets in on the ass kicking too.

Resident Evil: Extinction @ imdb
Resident Evil: Extinction official site

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The Darwin Awards(2006, Finn Taylor)

I watched this movie last week and I don't really have much to say about it, not because it wasn't good but just because I don't. The movie stars Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder as the two lead characters of this dark comedy. Wilmer Valderrama is also in the movie and in my opinion steals the movie and does some of the best acting in it. There's also a host of other stars that make short guest appearances. Well that's all I have to say about it. If that's not good enough for you here's what my girlfriend had to say about the movie when we were done watching it.

"Well that was cute and entertaining"
If that doesn't get you to go out and rent the movie I don't know what will.

The Darwin Awards Official Movie Site
The Real Darwin Awards Site that the movie was based on.

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Transformers(2007, Michael Bay)

So yesterday I got my geek on and went and saw Transformers the movie. I had grown up watching the Transformers cartoons, in the morning getting ready for school and I was excited to see a live action version of them. This movie was directed by Michael Bay, now I will be the first to admit I'm not a big fan of his movies, but he did an awesome job with this one. It was funny, action packed and the special effects were just out of this world. The ending battle/fight scenes between the Autobots and Decepticons was just spectacular.

The movie also featured some fresh new break out stars. I'm sure the reason they went with little known stars was because most of the money went into the actual Transformers characters. There was Shia LeBeouf, who is primed to be a big star especially after his break out role in Disturbia and now with the hit Transformers. I would also highly recommend watching him in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, you can see a review I did on that movie a while back ,here. There is also the required eye candy for all action movies and this was provided by Megan Fox. New comer, Rachael Taylor was also in the movie too and I had wished they used her more in the movie, she had a nice combination of intelligence, beauty and she can act too. Some great comedic relief was provided by Anthony Anderson. The movie also starred Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight and John Turturro.

So if you want to go see an action packed fun filled summer movie, my advice would be to go see Transformers. This really isn't a movie that you wait to see when it comes out on DVD, it's one that you should really see on a big movie screen with surround sound.

Transformers @ imdb
Official Transformers movie site

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Free Blockbuster Rental

We all like getting free stuff, hell sometimes even if I don't like what it is I just take it because it's free. I think that might be because I have some undiagnosed medical condition, but that's a topic for another blog. Anyway, the other day while stumbling around on the internet I found this hack you can do in order to get a free Blockbuster Rental. All you have to do is go to www.mycokerewards.com and type in this code:

100084616172235

A word of note in order for this to work you do need a My Coke Rewards account, but it's free to get if you don't already have one. So if you like movies and enjoy getting free things give this a try.

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Color Me Kubrick(2005, Brian W. Cook)

Color Me Kubrick is the truish story of an Englisman named, Alan Conway. Mr. Conway, during the mid-90's was a con man who would go around telling people that he was the reclusive world famous director Stanley Kubrick. The funny thing about this story is that Mr. Conway was openly gay and bore no physical resemblance to Stanley Kubrick nor did he know a great deal about his films.

This film follows Mr. Conway around on a number of adventures where he impersonates Mr. Kubrick, from the time he told a heavy metal band that he was going to make them famous to when he was going to produce a Las Vegas show for a closeted gay musical comic. This film was alright, not outstanding the only reason I would tell someone to see it would be to watch John Malkovich in the lead role. He plays Alan Conway and is just simply amazing to watch. His campy over the top performance hilarious and is comedic genius.

Color Me Kubrick @ imdb
Official Color Me Kubrick site which features a trailer of the movie.

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Fast Food Nation(2006, Richard Linklater)

This won't be a long review because there really isn't much to say about this film. All in all this film was pretty boring. I'm one of those people that will sit thru an entire movie or read a whole book once I start it, even if I don't like it. Well this was one of those movies. I kept looking at the timer to see if it was almost over. Richard Linklater probably would of been better off making a straight up documentary based on the book of the same name, instead of making a movie based on the ideas and facts put forth in the book.

So all in all I'd be lying if I said that this movie didn't have it's moments but your time would be better served by just reading the book Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser instead. The book was one hundred times better than the movie, but isn't that always the case.

Fast Food Nation(the movie) @ imdb
Fast Food Nation trailer
Fast Food Nation the book

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A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints(2006, Dito Montiel)

Generally if a movie doesn't make a certain amount of money in it's opening weekend, it's quickly pushed aside and forgotten about, that is until it comes out on video/dvd, where people will hopefully discover it. That's what happened with this fantastic coming of age movie A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. I had heard of this movie when it was briefly in the theaters, but I never got a chance to go see it. So since it has just recently been released on DVD, I got my chance to watch this heartwarmingly unforgettable film.

This film was directed & written by Dito Montiel, and it's an autobiographical coming of age story of his hard scrabble life growing up in Astoria, Queens, NYC during the 1980's. Dito believes that the only way he can escape his fate of either ending up dead, on drugs or in jail as all his friends eventually experience is by escaping to California, where eventually becomes a successful writer. So after having left 15 years ago with out a word, Dito is finally called home again to deal with his ailing father(played by an always great Chazz Palminteri) and all his memories of his youth come flooding back to him. Young Dito is played by the great young actor Shia LaBeouf, while the older Dito is played by a restrained Robert Downey Jr.

The movie doesn't focus too heavily on the present day Dito, but more on his youth and his friends that he grew up with, while on the tough streets of Queens. The cast of young actors in this film are great and in my opinion make the film what it is. It was them that were able to portray the raw emotion and energy that is Dito Montiels script and movie.

This film also stars Rosario Dawson, Channing Tatum and Dianne Wiest

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints @ imdb
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints trailer
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints official site

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Man of the Year(2006, Barry Levinson)

Man of the Year starring Robin Williams, Christopher Walken and Laura LInney is a comedy/drama/romance/thriller about a comic who runs for the presidency. Yeah thats alot of genres to have in a movie and although some movies can pull it off by being all of them this one sure as hell didn't. It's like this movie had a split personality, Am I a comedy or am I a thriller. It just couldn't make up its mind.

The performances in this movie weren't necessarily bad but I've seen impersonators do a better job. It just seemed to me that Christopher Walken was doing a bad impression of Chrisopher Walken. The same can be said for Robin Williams. I wonder if the director just said to Robin don't worry about acting just be yourself, but Robin Williams being himself just comes across as him doing an impersonation of Robin Williams. The only person that did any acting in the movie was Laura Linney.

Although this movie is called Man of the Year, no one in their right mind will mistake it for Movie of the Year. You know my mom said if you don't have anything good to say don't say anything at all, well I'm sure she would think differently if she saw this movie.

Man of the Year @ imdb
Man of the Year trailer

Idiocracy(2006, Mike Judge)

How would you feel if you were the smartest person on Earth? Well that's exactly what Private Joe Bowers(Luke Wilson) finds out. Private Bowers is an average "Average American" and is selected by the Army to be a test subject in a super secret hibernation program. Well things go wrong of course and Private Bowers is awoken until 500 years latter in the future. He discovers a world so dumbed down from popular media that he's the smartest person alive.

This movie is brought to you from the mind that gave us Beavis and Butt-head, King of the Hill and the cult classic Office Space, Yes I'm talking about Mike Judge. Through this movie Mr. Judge not only comments on our present day society but gives us a hilarious and chilling view of where our society could be headed. Lets hope it never gets there and in order to make sure it never gets there go read a book after your done watching this movie.

Idiocracy @ imdb
Idocracy movie trailer

Shadowboxer(2005, Lee Daniels)

Helen Mirren is one hot and sexy lady! That fact was cemented in my mind when I saw her in that great dress on the Golden Globes the other night. She had won an award for portraying the Queen in a mini-series.

I didn't really know too much about Helen Mirren and she really wasn't on my radar, that is until I saw Shadowboxer. In which Cuba Gooding Jr and her played a pair of assassins. Helen's character, Rose is diagnosed with terminal cancer. She's beginning to question her profession and on her last job, in which they were paid to kill the pregnant wife of a crime lord, she decides not to go thru with it. Instead they take the the pregnant wife into their care, played by Vanessa Ferlito. She haves the baby and they all move out to the country, where Rose looks after the baby and her mother while Cuba's character, Mikey still takes on jobs assassinating people. Well, to make a long story short, the crime lord, played by and always over the top Stephen Dorff finds out that his wife and son are still alive and goes looking after them. If you want to know the rest you will just have to go watch the movie.

Helen Mirren makes this unbelievable character real. Her presence on the screen is just filled with this sexual energy. Let me just say Cuba was one lucky guy to star opposite her and be involved in a couple sex scenes with her. Although Helen never gets naked in this film, Cuba has a fine time showing off his bare naked ass in this movie. Let me tell you something, Ladies you will be drooling over Cuba's body and guys all you'll be thinking about is that you need to go to the gym some more.

All this aside this film is flawed, but it's still worth a watch. It's not too long and their are some beautifully filmed scenes in it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has has a great part in the movie as a Doctor. Macy Gray also has a role, although I'm not sure how much acting she actually did for the part.

Official Shadowboxer site
Shadowboxer trailer
Shadowboxer @ imdb

Scoop(2006, Woody Allen)

If your a fan of Woody Allen films than you will undoubtedly like this one. Even though this film takes place in London it has the feel of some of Woody's earlier comedies. I enjoyed this film, it made me chuckle a few times but all in all the film had more of a made for TV movie aspect too it. I'm not sure why I felt this way but I did. Maybe because it didn't seem polished like his last few recent films or maybe because it just looked like he got a few friends together and made it over the weekend. I guess if I was a professional movie reviewer I could tell you why but I'm not so C'est la vie.

Maybe it was the plot that gave it a made for TV movie feel to it. The plot is, Scarlett Johansson plays an american journalism student, named Sondra Pransky. While on stage during a magic performance(Woody Allen is the magician here), she is contacted by a recently dead journalist,Joe Strombel played by Ian McShane. Ian McShane. Mr. Stombel gives Sondra a scoop regarding who might be the tarot card killer. Hugh Jackman who plays Peter Lyman a son of an aristocrat, just might be the tarot card killer. So Sondra along with Woody allen's character Sid Waterman set out to see if this who this Peter Lyman fellow is and if the scoop is right. Well hilarity ensues, Woody Allen stutters through his lines and the tarot card killer turns out to be..... Now, now you didn't think I was going to give away the answer to that did you? You'll just have to watch the movie to find out.

Official Scoop site
Scoop @ imdb
Scoop trailer

Pan's Labyrinth(2006, Guillermo del Toro)

Whatever I write about this movie will not give justice to this nightmarishly beautiful fairy tale of a young girl trying to cope with the cruelty of post war Fascist Spain. The girl(Ofelia) played wonderfully by Ivana Baquero is uprooted along with her mother and are moved to a rural military outpost, commanded by her ruthless and cruel stepfather. It is there where the commander, Captian Vidal is trying to quell and root out resistance fighters. Surrounded by death and chaos Ofelia creates a magical world in which she escapes the horrors around her. Is this magical world a creation of a child's mind or is it real and only she is able to see it. I will leave that up to you to figure it out.

This is a Spanish film that has English subtitles, so those of you that are normally put off by reading subtitles in films, don't let that stop you from seeing this movie. Something magical happens during this film. The world that Guillermo del Toro(who is more well known in the States for having made Hellboy and Blade II) has created such a magical and mesmerizing world. A quarter way into the film I didn't even realize that I was reading subtitles, because I was so caught up in this film. It is one of those films that just sticks with you. I saw it a week ago and I'm still thinking about it. Go see it now!

Pan's Labyrinth official site
Pan's Labyrinth @ imdb
Pan's Labyrinth trailer

The Last Kiss(2006, Tony Goldwyn)

So the Last Kiss is about a bunch of guys who are all on the verge of turning 30 and are each going thru a pre-mid life crisis of some sort. The movie's main focus is on Michael, played by Zach Braff, of Scrubs and Garden State fame. He's about to turn 30, has a long time steady girlfriend, Jenna who is pregnant, played by the wonderful Jacinda Barrett). When she states that maybe they should start to look to buy a house he just simply freaks out and believes that his life is about to end.

So to add some excitement to his life he ends up flirting with Kim a younger hot girl played by Rachel Bilson, you might know of her as Summer on The OC. Well to make a long story short his idiocy might end in him losing what he really wants ultimately, which is his girlfriend Jenna. This movie is really about guys not wanting to grow up and become adults and not dealing with responsibilities. I'm sure something alot of guys out there can relate to.

The film also stars Casey Affleck, you know Ben Afflecks much more talented younger brother. He play's one of Zach Braff's friends and is dealing with his own problems in the movie, namely a failed marriage that he thought the birth of his son would fix.

At first I thought this movie was going to be a lame Garden State rip off but I ended up liking this movie alot more than I thought I would and it had nothing to do with Rachel Bilson being naked in it. Oh did I forget to mention that oh my bad.

The Last Kiss @imdb
The Last Kiss trailer

On a side note, I just heard that this is the last season of The OC.

Domino(2005, Tony Scott)

Domino an action sometime comedy film, is based on the real life(sort of) of Domino Harvey, a young female bounty hunter. The lead character is played by Keira Knightly. Mickey Rourke and Edgar Ramirez play her fellow bounty hunters. In the movie Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green of Beverly Hills 90210fame play themselves, as hosts of a reality show. Christopher Walken, Lucy Lui, Mena Suvari, Delroy Lindo and Dabney Coleman also round out the cast.

I think if this movie was 30-minutes shorter and the action was tightened up a bit it would of been a better film, but director Tony Scott(Ridley's less talented brother) just didn't pull through on this one. I didn't really like this movie nor did I hate this movie, all in all it just didn't do anything for me.

The one saving grace of this movie was Keira Knightly, who at various points during the movie, gives a gang banger a lap dance in her bra and panties, goes swimming in a skimpy bikini and the crowning achievement of the film, does a topless mescalin fueled sex scene in the middle of the desert. Now that last one I mentioned, the topless sex scene. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining that that was put in the movie but I have no idea why that was put in the movie, it did nothing to further the plot. Oh wait, now that I think of it I know why that was put in the movie, to give people a reason to sit through it(well that is until the sex scene is over). I'm not sure why Keira agreed to do that scene but for what ever reasons I really hope they paid Keira a lot of money to do it, but between you and me I'm glad she did.


Domino official site
Domino @imdb
Domino trailer
The real Domino Harvey wikipedia entry

An Inconvenient Truth(2006, Davis Guggenheim)

Some may say Oh that's that Al Gore movie isn't it. What is he trying to do get elected for president. Well however you may feel about Al Gore, whether you like him or don't, you must see this movie. I implore you to see this movie. Every American should see this movie. Schools should be showing this movie in science class.

An Inconvenient Truth is about the climate crisis in the form of global warming that the Earth is facing. It follows Al Gore's fight of making people realize what is going on and his effort to stop the effects of global warming. This movie focuses on a slide show about the global climate crisis, that Al Gore has been giving for a large majority of his career. The film makes a difficult subject to understand accessible and clears up the misinformation around it. Seeing this movie will make you understand what is at stake and your need as an individual to take action, before it's too late.

Also make sure you check out the An Inconvenient Truth website climate crisis to see what you can do to help fight global warming and to get more information on the subject.

An Inconvenient Truth @ imdb
An Inconvenient Truth trailer

Oh and did I mention that you should see this movie.

Brothers of the Head(2005, Keith Fulton & Louis Pepe)

Brothers of the Head is mockumentary portrait of 2 brothers, Tom and Barry Howe, who are Siamese twins in 1970's England. The twins are bought off of their father by a music promoter with the hopes of producing a musical novelty act. Instead what he gets is an intense outpouring of pure punk rock energy, not exactly what he was looking for. The film is a look into two musical artists trying to find their identity, but what happens if those two musical artists are conjoined Siamese twins. They delve into that notion in one of their songs where the lyrics are "2 to 1 and 1 is 3 are you you or are you me?"

In the film the twins band is called The Bang Bang and the music that they produce is really good. I'm not normally into buying movie soundtracks but I'm highly thinking of getting the soundtrack to the movie. Although I have been trying to find somewhere on the internet to download the songs for free(yup I said free) So if anyone knows of a site that has the songs for download, please let me know!

Now for the mockumentary approach of the film. I think the director handled this particular genre wonderfully. At one point in the film, my girlfriend turns to me and goes, this isn't a true story right? Also be warned, when someone first hears the word mockumentary they think its going to be a comedy or a funny look at something. Well with this film that couldn't be further from the truth. This film is a grim dark portrait of two boys who go on a musical journey, fighting to find their own identities. To make matters even worse and tougher for them they have to do all this while being conjoined Siamese twins. There is no happy ending to this mockumentary, although this film utterly sick and twisted film will leave you thinking about it for days

Brothers of the Head official site
Brothers of the Head @ imdb
Brothers of the Head Trailer

Rize( 2005, David LaChapelle)

So last week I did a review of photographer Larry Clark's film Wassup Rockers. A movie based on real experiences of a group of Latino punk rock skateboarders living in South Central Los Angeles. Well this week I have another film by a photographer focusing on a different group of kids also living in South Central Los Angeles. The photographer this time is acclaimed fashion celebrity photographer/music video director David LaChapelle and the movie is Rize.

Rize is a documentary film about the dancing sub-cultures of Clowning(orginated by Tommy the Clown) and Krumping(which developed out of the Clowning movement), in the gang ridden neighborhoods of South Central, LA. What is a young kid to do to get out his aggression and anger, but yet staying optimistic and positive in a nonviolent way,having grown up in that type of environment. Well thats where Clowning and mostly Krumping come into play. These two dancing sub-cultures are a way for the practitioners to freely express themselves and to get out all of the complex emotions that are within them, while at the same time they having unknowingly created a new art form. It is also an alternative for them to the blinged out lifestyle that is portrayed in mainstream hip-hop. To an outsider this style of dance can seem violent since at times there is physical contact between dancers, but to the participants it is just a way to express themselves in a nonviolent way and they all understand this to be part of the dance and they don't advocate violence at all. It is similar to the old punk rock standard of the mosh pit,it may look violent but everyone is just there to have fun and not hurt anyone and everyone understands that.

It was interesting to see this documentary not to long after I had watched Wassup Rockers. Where the Latino skaters eschew the gangsta rap culture and instead choose to express themselves through punk rock influences and skateboarding. These are just good kids trying the best they can with the hand that have been dealt. The same can be said about the kids that are featured in Rize, these are just good kids trying to express themselves and trying to stay optimistic and positive. As one of the kids said if it wasn't for Clowning, he most likely would of joined a gang.

Well I'm not sure where this review is going except that you don't have to be a Clown, a Krumper or just a middle class white boy who does poorly written movie reviews to appreciate a documentary like, Rize.

Watch the Rize Trailer
Rize imdb page