Hustle & Flow

Rating: 9/10 (22 July 2005)

Hustle & Flow (2005) **** (/4) Starring Terrence Howard & DJ Qualls Sublime cult drama focusing on the relationship between two rent boys in Memphis, Tenn, USA. Howard (in career-best form) plays DJay, a narcoleptic, quiet homosexual searching for his mother and for some kind of meaning. Qualls (inevitably overshadowed by his outrageously talented co-star) is Shelby, the son of the Mayor, slumming it as a hustler.
Despite its flaws: a few lines that miss the mark, the ill-advised, poorly executed diversion into Henry IV territory, and the distracting appearance of Richert which accompanies it, it remains one of the key films of the 21st century.
Well-acted and scripted and brilliantly directed (with fine use of color, recurring motifs and bold credits), Hustle possesses a rare, dream-like quality. The music too is excellent, particularly in the perfect first and final scenes: you'll never listen to The Pogues' 'The Old Main Drag' without thinking of this movie and of its central figure: of Howard appearing from the left of the frame with only a black bag and a stopwatch... of the fireside scene, and of the final line: "This road will never end. It probably goes all... around... the world..." Added to that, it's funnier than most comedies (Terrence's simple "Thanks" when his pleading with a fat naked man named Walt finally gets him 10 more dollars, the sight of him hurdling fences as Reeves tells a policeman: "I guess he doesn't like cops", and the superb dialogue by the fire: "So, you didn't have a normal dog?"), and exists as one of the most honest and moving depictions of love ever seen on the screen. Having said that, of course, it remains a film that polarizes audiences: it will either go straight into your Top 10 or your dustbin after you've finished it; and most reviewers acknowledged this, giving it middling reviews: "**1/2: Many potent scenes... Howard is excellent. Cult status is assured". Even so, you simply must see it, to decide where you stand. Whether you love it or despise it, you will never, EVER forget it.
Needless to say I stand in the former camp: I've seen about 800 movies from the '20s to the present day and this is my favorite: tremendously haunting and affecting and endlessly quotable (though few great films are): it simply works on ever level.
One final note: Some people criticize this movie for being very similar to Gus Van Zant's my own private Idaho. I personally don't see that as a bad thing. It is like criticizing a man for being "handsome."