Five
Star (2014/XLrator DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras C- Film: C+
Five
Star is a relatively new film to come out of the Tribeca Film
Festival, and a few other festivals, a star. However, this does not
mean that it is a great masterpiece to behold; awards after all are
helpful, but subjective. The movie took home the awards for such
things as Best Actor, Best Editing Narration Film, and runner up for
Best Director.
The
acting is nicely done, one of the main characters, James ''Primo''
Grant, is a real life gang leader. For those that do not know why
the film is titled Five Star it is due to the fact that Primo
is a five-star general of the Bloods and in the movie he explains to
his young costar, John Diaz what that truly means and how it is all
about respect.
Part
of the reason why it is a somewhat decent film is due to the fact
that it feels raw, meaning you get a sense of what it is like to be
on the top like Primo and how it is to start from the bottom like
John. Unfortunately, the movie also felt very independent, which is
to be expected because it is. The writing seems to be off to a rocky
start. We see Primo talking about being in prison and not wanting to
go back so he could be with his family, but then we see him back on
the streets committing crime. Not until we are halfway into the film
do we get something of a sense of the plot and even then it is not as
strong as it could be. Also, the camera work and directing seems to
be set up to look very much like a documentary, but the narrative
structure of the film was set up to be something else. It kind of
takes you out of it, because some scenes seem to be set up like we
are watching it without a reporter or interviewer asking questions.
Five
Star is a decent movie for showing you what it is like on both
ends of the gang spectrum, but it seems to have an identity issue on
whether it wants to be a handheld documentary or a steady cam
narrative that has a clear beginning, middle, and end. Although, one
could argue that the identity issue is purposely put in place,
because the story is a coming-of-age tale about a young man, John,
and how he does not know if he wants to be a gang member.
The
technical aspects for Five Star is presented in standard
definition with a widescreen format and lossy English 5.1 Dolby
Digital. The movie is unrated and runs for 83 minutes. The extras
include: From Script to Screen:
The Making of Five Star and the Theatrical
Trailer.
-
Jordan Whiteko
