Movie making at it best

Rating: 9/10 (24 November 2002)

Some spoilers will follow:
The two greatest gifts a director can give the viewer is a story a)filmed in such a way as to transport the viewer into that world, b)leave the viewer with a need to discuss what was just experianced. Hanson did both with this movie.
Having little knowledge of rap music, and only aware of Emenim through his press coverage, I was a bit hesitant to see this movie. However the trailers seemed to be offering a movie with more substance than the story line would lead one to expect. I trusted Curtis Hanson and went. I have seen it twice.
I was captivated by the performance of Emenim. We do not often see the emergence of such screen presence from an individual's first attempt. B Rabbit was played with such sutble understatement that a I forgot almost immediately that the actor behind the character was so infamous. From the very first scene, as he faced himself in the mirror, I could feel that Rabbit was going to be a young man with emotional depth. I absolutely loved that he threw-up on himself and that he so completely choked on stage. He became utterly real. And so did the music. I may never be a fan, but I can approach an understanding of its emotional drive.
This is very much a movie worth seeing. A study in a portion of American culture, an insight into a musical form that has captured so much of the American youth, and most importantly a chance to open a dialog with our sons and daughters because we, as their parents, have been given a view into a world that very much influences them.