Movies :: Pimp Triumphant
Set in Memphis, director Craig Brewer's new film is a powerfully acted tale of a black anti-hero's salvation through rap music.
"Hustle and Flow." Rated R. Directed by Craig Brewer.
by Betsy Sherman
Boston, MA - July 25, 2005 - "Hustle & Flow," in which a not-so-sympathetic criminal tries to turn his life around by creating rap music, has one foot in a formulaic commercial genre and the other in the world of gritty independent film. And it satisfies on both counts, as a "Rocky"-like tale of an underdog with a dream, and as a textured study of one man and the neighborhood that served as his Petri dish.
The film represents a combined effort by white writer-director Craig Brewer and black producer-director John Singleton ("Boyz N the Hood"). Singleton helped Brewer realize his own underdog dream by not only producing "Hustle & Flow," but also backing it financially after a series of studios passed on it. The film was shot on location in Brewer's hometown of Memphis, where he and his wife had returned after Brewer directed theater in San Francisco. The mostly black cast is headed by Terrence Dashon Howard ("Crash"), who plumbs the anti-hero's depths while exuding charisma and cool.
With "Hustle & Flow," Brewer establishes himself as a regional storyteller of the hard-partying "Dirty South" that's been celebrated in rap. As the film begins, it's sure enough Memphis in June, but not the one with sweet oleander and shady verandas that Hoagy Carmichael sang about. Here, the air is like a concrete block sitting on your chest.
The camera pulls back slowly from the mouth of DJay (Howard), who's philosophizing from the driver's seat of his car. We eventually see the recipient of his pearls of wisdom, his white country-gal "ho" Nola (Taryn Manning). She gives him a vapid look and trots pragmatically over to the next car to service a trick. The opening credits sequence follows, proffering a crucial, hilarious homage to '70s blaxploitation: the action freeze-frames under the movie's title, written in yellow using a bulbous retro font.
DJay, who also deals drugs, makes the rounds. A bar owner (Isaac Hayes) tells him that local-boy-turned-rap-star Skinny Black will be partying there on the 4th of July. Skinny will require his finest pot. In the wee hours of the morning, DJay stops by a strip club to pick up one of his stable, the feisty, demanding Lexus (Paula Jai Parker). They drive home to DJay's sweatbox of a house, also occupied by Nola, the pregnant hooker Shug (Taraji P Henson), and Lexus's baby. It looks like Djay's summer will be business as usual.
Then the magic wand of movie plotting touches DJay twice on the noggin. An addict gives him a cheesy Casio keyboard as barter. The pimp had had one in his youth, back when he and Skinny Black were peers, back when DJay could rhyme circles around him. He noodles around on it, and writes some verses. Soon after DJay runs into a high school friend Key -- Anthony Anderson, in a rare non-comic role -- a guy who records sound in various venues, from churches to courtrooms.
The pimp searches his soul. He's has a mid-life crisis at 35; given his dangerous habits, he won't make it to 70. Unlike other movie pimps, DJay doesn't care about being the coolest or richest pimp in the 'hood. He wants something more, a legacy. He decides to make a CD that tells the unvarnished truth about the pimp life, a record that would blast all the phony poseurs to pieces and put him at the top of the heap. The movie gives DJay a ghostly devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. The devil was the uncle who got him into pimping, the angel his father, who made an honest living as a school bus mechanic.
Brewer lets us see DJay through the eyes of others in his orbit. As they put more faith in him, we have more faith in him (although DJay could lapse at any moment into dark, violent behavior). Key has been seduced before into using his expertise to help out performers who didn't put their whole heart into their art. DJay convinces Key he's the real deal. Shelby (DJ Qualls), a white keyboard player, also hopes that DJay will be his ticket out of 9-to-5 hell. Director Brewer uses Shelby to deliver a mission statement of pride for the South as home of the blues and all the genres that the blues have spawned. Shelby, on a roll, declares: "You gotta get what you have to say out ... every man has the right to contribute a verse."
The recording sessions at DJay's house have an infectious energy, as producer Key matches DJay's incendiary poetry with the beats and hooks that will get the tracks played on the radio and in clubs. Or so they hope. There are contrivances in the movie's last half-hour, during which DJay uses his gift of gab to get his tape into the hands of Skinny Black (Ludacris). There's even a combination of unhappy and happy endings, as in Rocky's going-the-distance. Still, the film's occasional missteps don't seriously mar its overall power.
Most admirably, "Hustle & Flow" does not slight its woman characters or insult its actresses. Lexus is the most stereotypical character, but her loudmouth bitch behavior also functions as a reinforcement of DJay's inner doubts. The timid, inarticulate Shug, who loves DJay unconditionally and whom he takes for granted, is the movie's soul. Henson gives a heartbreaking performance that matches Howard's. Shug is sweetly grateful for being asked to contribute backup vocals on the songs. There's a moment in which the full force of Shug's loving support hits DJay and he impulsively runs back into the house to thank her; their kiss is as passionate and sexy as any full-blown love scene. Even the hard-working Nola, who's sometimes used as comic relief, receives a welcome measure of empowerment by the end of the story.
It takes a pyramid of people to make a dream come true, and "Hustle & Flow's" great cast reminds us to look at the grunts on the bottom as well as the star at the top. -------------------------------------------------------------- Please Note: Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from College employees regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.