A serious film... with that hip-hop!

Rating: Null/10 (29 July 2003)

First of all I like to confess that I'm not a fan of hip-hop myself, I never was. When I sat to watch this movie in a TV channel I knew nothing of its premises, whether it had hiphop, or it is produced by Mtv etc. The local TV listing pointed it out as a 'drama' and that's all. But in the end, somehow the movie got me like itself. Not only for its mild simplicity in story, direction, acting and screenplay, but also for its use of hip-hop. The main theme of the story is a clichÃ©, indeed. But the presentation is unique. Anti-racism is the movie's main theme, so is fusion in classical and popular music as well. This movie has romance, tension, sad moments, serious sequences... and amusingly to offer a surprise relief in all these seriousness, there comes hip-hop.
Julia Stiles acted quite well, though I don't know if she used a stunt double during the shots of ballet dancing, because they were not good. Other than that, even during hip-hop dance scenes, she was good to watch. Sean Patrick Thomas, whose career I did not follow was very interesting. I got surprised to find out later that he was 31 when this movie is shot. He looked so original indeed. Rest of the cast offered a decent performance as well.
In the end, I liked the show. It is better for Mtv to produce such movies more, since we tend to hail pop culture very easily. To blend that with such serious theme is still quite unique. 7/10