Hustle And Flow (DVD)

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TITLE: Hustle & Flow

RATING: ****½

CAST: Terrence Howard, Anthony Anderson, Taryn Manning, Taraji P. Henson, Ludacris, Elise Neal, DJ Qualls, Isaac Hayes, Paula Jai Parker, Jordon Houston (nee Juicy J), William Engram, Bobby Sandimanie, Haystak, Claude Phillips, Josey Scott, Al Kapone, Michael Hooks.

DIRECTOR: Craig Brewer

SCREENWRITER: Craig Brewer

STUDIO: Paramount ...
...mid-2005 when the indie hit HUSTLE & FLOW came out, it looked like another one of those “rags to rap riches” story and I was not interested at all; ironically, it came out at the same time that another film was released that had a similar storyline, and that was 50 Cent’s adaptation of his best-selling album, GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN’. I don’t like 50 Cent’s music (if you really want to call it that), though I was forced to go see it as a deal to some ... more

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TITLE: Hustle & Flow

RATING: ****½

CAST: Terrence Howard, Anthony Anderson, Taryn Manning, Taraji P. Henson, Ludacris, Elise Neal, DJ Qualls, Isaac Hayes, Paula Jai Parker, Jordon Houston (nee Juicy J), William Engram, Bobby Sandimanie, Haystak, Claude Phillips, Josey Scott, Al Kapone, Michael Hooks.

DIRECTOR: Craig Brewer

SCREENWRITER: Craig Brewer

STUDIO: Paramount Classics / MTV Films / New Deal Productions

RUNNING TIME: 116 min

RATED: R (US) & 15 (UK); contains pervasive language, violence and drug content.

DVD AVAILABILITY: 5 GBP from Amazon; ASIN #B000E3LIHM

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INTRODUCTION: MY RAP AGAINST RAP
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You know, I remember a day while I was in Navy boot camp in which a lot of African-American recruits would celebrate by saluting Master P. My question was: who the hell is Master P? I found out later he was a rap singer; no wonder I’ve never heard of him! Yes, I’m not a big fan of rap music, and I particularly hate that “gangsta rap” garbage, because it seems like all they sing about are running from the cops, selling drugs, and banging girls. Am I stereotyping? Maybe so, but you know what they say: Perception is Reality. And the truth is that much of the “gangsta rap” I’ve heard in my day has nothing but those elements, as well as an overuse of the “n” word. Granted, I didn’t grow up in the inner city so I cannot “relate” to it, though I have never understood what the reasoning behind all these singers using the “n” word when it is a racist slur, and they have this attitude that only black people can use it and not white people. Some people call it poetry, I know, but I can’t help but thing that it is built upon nothing but racist and misogynist foundations.

In mid-2005 when the indie hit HUSTLE & FLOW came out, it looked like another one of those “rags to rap riches” story and I was not interested at all; ironically, it came out at the same time that another film was released that had a similar storyline, and that was 50 Cent’s adaptation of his best-selling album, GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN’. I don’t like 50 Cent’s music (if you really want to call it that), though I was forced to go see it as a deal to some friends; I hated it, thought it was ugly, offensive and just a celebration of egotism and nihilism all to sell more copies of the rapper’s album. I named it one of the worst films of 2005, and I opted not to see HUSTLE & FLOW because I thought it would be more of the same thing. However, when the film started to win several awards---including some Oscar nominations---it seemed to me that there was more to this film than what it suggested. I finally decided to give it a chance last week, and I was greatly surprised…so surprised in fact, that if I had opted to see the film in 2005 when it was released, I no doubt would have added it to my top ten for the year.

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WHOOP THAT TRICK & GET EM!
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The film is set in the inner city section of Memphis, Tennessee, and it opens on a pimp named D-Jay (Terrence Howard), who is giving a philosophical speech to his one active hooker Nola (Taryn Manning). That’s right: a pimp is talking about the nature of man; the truth is, he is sick of the business (or game, if you will), not because it is making little money, but for the simple reason that he is sick of it. He wants to do something more with his life, instead of just selling drugs and being in control of prostitutes. Two things happen which inspire him to go in a different direction: he is sold (against his better wishes) an outdated keyboard, and he runs into a grade school friend Key (Anthony Anderson), who is now a family man and composes music in a local church. When he was young he was acquainted with a boy who later in life became Skinny Black (Ludacris), a multi-million dollar rap artist; the extent of that friendship is kept secret until later in the movie, as it provides a suspenseful undertone as to what will happen at the climax.

Anyway, D-Jay wants to fulfill the lifetime dream of becoming a hip-hop singer, and leaving the pimp life for good. So, he hooks up with Key and lays down some ideas with him that Key likes, though his wife has reservations about the supposed collaboration; nevertheless, they soundproof one of D-Jay’s rooms and makes it a studio to create some music. Key also enlists the help of Shelby (DJ Qualls) to play the piano and eventually they bring in one of D-Jay’s hookers, Shug (Taraji P. Henson) to sing the refrain vocals. The heart of the movie comes in this poor man’s recording studio, as they turn their words into song with what equipment they do have to make up a demo. When D-Jay then learns that Skinny Black is coming into town to a bar which is run by Arnel (Isaac Hayes), he sees his chance to present to him a demo tape and, hopefully, have a shot at getting his voice heard.

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BREWING & FILMING IN MEMPHIS
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The film was written and directed by Craig Brewer, who is white, a native of Memphis himself, and he feels quite comfortable being in an environment he is familiar with; this is the film which put Brewer on the map in Hollywood, though he didn’t want to be a part of the system to make HUSTLE & FLOW. In 2000, just after his father died, he made a digital film for only $20,000, and then he spent four years to get HUSTLE & FLOW on paper to film. Brewer puts much passion into his work and while he uses clichés, though he doesn’t depend on them, which so many filmmakers often do. The theme is simple: everyone has a dream, and it is about a man who is willing to do everything he can to accomplish it; I admit that it is a familiar, though somehow Brewer is able to make it fresh and inspirational…but without being manipulative, which is the key to the film’s success.

I loved Brewer’s characters in HUSTLE & FLOW, particularly D-Jay, who is introduced as a liar and exploiter, but begins to look at the world in a different way. He is obviously intelligent, but he has never been able to channel that intelligence to do something more respectable; his character seems to be going through a midlife crisis, and goes through endless changes that clarifies that. D-Jay is a dead flower that is determined to blossom into something, anything which will garner him some respect. The hookers have layers of their own as well; Nola is Caucasian, and is also sick and tired of being used, though D-Jay doesn’t see that at first; Nola wants to be in charge of her own life, which has always been out of reach for her, as she has had to depend on other people. The very pregnant Shug, is secretly in love with D-Jay, though she is probably not carrying his child, which makes her reserved and frightened of him. Key is someone who has become successful, gotten married and has a job that he loves and he comes along to help

Filmmaker John Singleton (BOYZ IN THE HOOD) saw potential in the project and stepped up to help Brewer out; what also helped was the bringing together of a talented ensemble cast. Anthony Anderson, who has built his career up on unfunny, desperate comedies finally has a chance to expand his acting chops and turn in a solid performance as Key, who is struggling to be devoted to both D-Jay and his wife Yevette (charmingly played by Elise Neal). DJ Qualls, who many of you may remember as the skinny nerd in ROAD TRIP, is also able to break out of being used as a comic puppet in previous films and become a real, normal character that has a deep passion for music and what it represents to him. I also loved Taraji P. Henson (SMOKIN’ ACES), who is absolutely wonderful as Shug, and her moment when she is able to not only talk but also sing lyrics for the first time is a truly defining moment which has a lot of emotional resonance.

Taryn Manning is remarkable as the prostitute Nola, and her great moment comes when she stands up to D-Jay for the first time and let him know that she doesn’t want to be treated anymore as a financial investment. Even though D-Jay and his crew are able to get some songs recorded, Key lets him know that they need a more powerful microphone so that D-Jay’s voice is more clear and expanding, so D-Jay heads up to a local music shop. He doesn’t have enough money to afford the mike they need, and begs the owner, who keeps on looking over at Nola. I’m sure you can guess what happens and, needless to say, Nola isn’t happy; she lets him know that she is sick of the manipulation, and D-Jay then breaks down and bows down to her (it was at this point I had finally garnered sympathy for both of their characters). Even Ludacris (real name Chris Bridges, a real-life rap star) is quite good as Skinny Black; his character isn’t really fleshed out until the end, and of course I will not reveal what he is like. Finally, we have the legendary Isaac Hayes as the bar owner Arnel; if you never heard of him, he is actually the singer who won an Oscar for the classic theme to the movie SHAFT with Richard Roundtree.

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BEST ACTOR & BEST SONG
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Craig Brewer must have gone through hell to get this film made, because it took him four years to start shooting…and he was only given 23 days to get it done! When the film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, it won the Audience award, and at the end of the year, the Academy Awards gave HUSTLE & FLOW attention by giving it to two nominations, one of which was Best Actor for Terrence Howard. I’m telling you all right now that the main reason to see this film is because of Howard’s powerful, emotionally charged performance as D-Jay. Incidentally, he also had a role in GET RICH AND DIE TRYIN’ and I thought he gave one of the better performances, though it really didn’t leave an impression for me; then again, I was so disgusted by the film that I lost all interest in the characters and story. Believe it or not, but Howard has been a character actor for over 15 years, and when he was initially offered HUSTLE & FLOW, he turned it down. Even the studio was adamant that the role of D-Jay should be given to a real-life rap or hip-hop artist; however, Brewer was convinced that Howard would be perfect, and he was so right. While Howard lost the Oscar to Phillip Seymour Hoffman (who deserved it for CAPOTE), he still gives a star-making performance here which is truly unforgettable.

As I said before, I don’t like rap or hip-hop music in general, though it’s very true that HUSTLE & FLOW comes alive in its second act, when the cast are creating and recording music. Considering the fact that none of them are professional rap musicians, they all manage to sing quite well, and the lyrics, while they still do tend to have stuff like “nuts hanging to the floor,” they accurately reflect the mid-life crisis in which Howard’s character is going through. The lyrics on many of the songs are not about rebellion, but rather about the life he is living and why he wants to leave it. Believe it or not, but Brewer says on the commentary track that his primary inspiration for the recording scenes was the Best Picture winner AMADEUS (!); I’m not joking, he really wanted to show how these songs are put together. The other Oscar nomination was for Best Original Song, and that song would be “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp,”; and, it did in fact WON the Academy Award, which was given to Jordon Houston, Cedric Coleman, and Paul Beauregard for writing and producing the song. I must admit it was well deserved too, considering the fact I was actually singing it as the film ended!

Ok, I know what you all are screaming: “Hey, Chris, I thought you hated hip-hop music!” Hehehe, well, you didn’t read the opening correctly then, because I said I hated “gangsta rap” music and this song, as many of the other songs that are on the soundtrack, have hip-hop sensibilities as well as intelligent lyrics which don’t lean towards hatred or misogyny. To be honest, though, I loved HUSTLE & FLOW not because of the music but because of the characters and the story, which were all carefully crafted and written by Craig Brewer; I’m looking forward to future films by him, because he really has an eye for detail, and he chooses to remain independent instead of selling out to the Hollywood system. The soundtrack for HUSTLE & FLOW is available from Amazon for 12 GBP and I highly recommend you check it out, even if you don’t care for hip-hop music.

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HUSTLING FEATURES & A FLOWING COMMENTARY
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The DVD of HUSTLE & FLOW has an adequate amount of special features that I was pleased with, starting with an insightful audio commentary by Craig Brewer. He speaks very clearly and effectively, talking about (among other things) the long road he took to getting this film made, as well as the constant rejections he got by studios everywhere. A large part of those rejections were based on the fact he was making a film about black people and he was a 33-year-old white man; he has lived in Memphis for much of his life, which is populated largely by black people, and thus he felt he knew how to depict them realistically. Well, I can’t argue with him about that! Brewer also talks about the casting process and how he managed to create some original songs for the film, including “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp,” “Whoop that Trick,” and “Hustlin’ and Flowin’.” Much of his film was taken from personal experience, and in many ways D-Jay is a cinematic reflection of Brewer, despite the fact the character is black; ironically, he went through his own “hustle and flow” wile writing the screenplay and going through a lot to get his voice heard, as D-Jay did in the film.

There are also three mini-documentaries, which each talk about the film getting made, as well as providing interviews from pretty much the entire cast and crew. The documentaries are titled “Behind the Hustle,” “By Any Means Necessary,” and “Creating Crunk,” which gives more information on his journey getting the film sold and only getting his chance when John Singleton agreed to finance it on his own…even putting up his own house as collateral! While things tend to get repeated from Craig’s commentary, there is still much to relish, particularly if you are determined to break into filmmaking, like me. The other special features include a segment showing the film’s premiere in Memphis, as well as several previews from other Paramount films.

In conclusion, even if you don’t like or care for the music, I still think HUSTLE & FLOW is a genuine audience pleaser, and I highly recommend it to you all. For once, here is a film that doesn’t portray pimps as being thugs with fur coats and feathers in their hat, and a man who wants to become a rapper not because he wants to get rich, but just because he just wants his voice heard for creating something that is his own. The DVD is available for only 5 GBP from Amazon, and the film was also just released on HD DVD format just a few weeks ago, which also available from Amazon for a few pounds more. Thanks for reading, and you all keep hustling and flowing…Chris :)

You Know It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp
When He Tryin’ to Get This Money for the Rent
For the Cadillacs and Gas Money Spent
Because a Whole Lot of Bitches Are Jumping Ship 

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