Decisions
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: C- Main Program: C
Is Master P the master of his domain? Well, he certainly is one of the great
independent survivors in Hip Hop. In a
genre where the music is not fresh for long and gets “played out” very quickly,
where so many artists have come and gone that even the biggest fans and experts
lose track, his track record in fascinating.
Decisions (2004) is the latest in a series of very low-budget,
amateur, videotaped, dramatic works that he has been using his clout to get
produced.
Despite having a co-director in Tim Alexander and
co-writer in Charles Johnson, this is not the best production by a longshot,
very amateur in a world of DVD where we have seen endlessly badly taped shorts,
Dogme 95 productions and overrated feature films in general. The irony is that these are sincere-enough
attempts to capture a side of the Black Experience totally unknown to Hollywood
and the mainstream media. In the late
1960s and into the 1970s, feature films that tried to deal with this did get
made, like The Education Of Sonny Carson (1974), reviewed elsewhere on
this site.
Now that he has done a series of these programs, which are
very raw and graphic without going overboard, adding some name people to do a
filmed projected would seem the logical next step. I was surprised at how the violence and gunplay was subdued and
held back, even suggested. I actually
think any future project could go further, but Master P and company are on the
right track possibly, and getting more ambitious would be the boldest thing of
all to do. As it stands, Decisions
is average, but is from a real direction that needs more brought out of it.
The box claims the image’s ratio is 1.33 x 1, but is
really letterboxed 1.78 X 1 off of the NTSC taping. It lacks detail and has hazing when anyone moves, showing its
digital sourcing. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo is really not intended to have any surround performances, and event he
hard bassy Hip Hop music does not fill any side speakers very well, so the
sound is limited. The only extras are
three music videos and a plug for his latest album, but that’s it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
