Hustle and Flow

As attracted to Black culture as I have always been, I’ve never been able to get down with hip-hop, and its whole pimps ‘n’ ho’s aesthetic. Give me Smokey Robinson or Marvin Gaye any day. And yet Memphis white boy Craig Brewer as writer/director has infused the scene with a satisfying creative passion, the drive to make that demo tape of crunk a direct parallel to his own quest to make the movie. The whole struggle-to-breakthrough story arc is tried and true, but there is plenty of local color and flavor along the way. His passion recruited director John Singleton to produce, and eventually to finance it himself when none other could be found. The film won multiple awards at Sundance last year, and Terrence Howard’s performance has been deservedly nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. He’s a scuffling-to-get-by pimp and dealer who glimpses redemption in getting his story out and his rapping noticed. Yeah, yeah, everybody’s got a dream. But more importantly none of the details are fudged, this is not what you would call an admirable character here, but you do root for the dream to be realized. The whores and bandmates are well-sketched characters as well. The uppers and downers of the story are nicely-balanced, but it’s just not my scene. (2005, dvd, n.) *7-* (MC-68, RT-81.)