Hustle & Flow (Widescreen)
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: B-
It’s nice to see a risk pay off. John Singleton, who has been far too preoccupied with commercial
film ventures way below his talents, decided to fund writer/director Craig
Brewer’s story of a hustler who after years of misery and hopelessness starts
to see his way out of a wasted life through art in Hustle & Flow. One of the few surprise hit independent
productions of 2005, the film was a moderate box office hit, gained much
critical acclaim and then shocked the industry with its Best Actor nomination
for the very talented Terrence Howard and the first-ever nomination and win for
a hardcore Hip Hop record by the group 3-9 Mafia.
Howard’s DJay has one woman pregnant, another hustling for
him sexually and a philosophy where he feels he needs to keep giving other
people lectures about “reality” to convince himself that the worst reality is
the only one. One day, an old friend
(the underrated Anthony Anderson) talks about his music work for the church and
the music business. DJay decides to
consider new possibilities, minus the religion, though it may become a new
religion for him. Add an acquaintance
from the past (Ludacris in a thankless role) who has become a big Rap star and
he decides to give his American Dream one last chance.
Though I question some of the themes of redemption in the
film as naïve and problematic, it is a remarkable film just the same and one
many a Hip Hop project is far from hitting the mark on in their “realism” in
often independent productions that are just pandering to a very narrow audience
and no one seems to remember later. The
film also serves as a retro flipside to Singleton’s Boyz N The Hood, his
debut that should have perpetuated more of the Black New Wave while it lasted,
something this film luckily returns to doing.
No, this is not the world of Spike Lee, but part of a reclaiming of a
distinctive 1970s cinema that was produced by white money and featured African
Americans. Now if only African
Americans in the power and Capitalist elite who are part of the arts could see
this as a model in giving all African Americans a permanent foothold in cinema
outside of a few big stars.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image was shot in
Super 16mm film by cinematographer Amelia Vincent, A.S.C., then a digital
internegative was used to both cover up any shortcomings in the blow-up process
and solidify the early-to-mid 1970s film look the producers were going
for. With dense, slightly dark EastmanColor
reminiscent of most Blaxploitation films of the time, the Hip Hop themed film
absorbs that past culture, makes it its own as Hip Hop has done with so much
past Afro-Centric culture of the time and brought it into now with a new
realistic edge as much thematically as visually. The only catch is that detail that would have been in even a
regular 16mm film of the time is not there, dulled out by the approach and
digitization.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is pretty good for an
independent production, but still shows some limits of the budget in the sound,
though it has good bass in many parts.
Too bad this was not in DTS, but the key song to the narrative won the
Best Song Academy Award and It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp evolves before
your eyes and ears like the relationships in the film itself. Scott Bomar supplied some very complementary
scoring that is both 1970s and now.
Extras include 6 promo spots, three featurettes and feature-length
director’s commentary track.
- Nicholas Sheffo
