movie of the day: Hustle and Flow (2005)

Since were doing the pop culture thing, i am going to bring you guys some movie reviews whenever i watch something new via Netflix. today's selection: the movie Hustle and Flow, the story of a small time street pimp and drug dealer who aspires to become a rap star. a lot has been said about Terrence Dashon Howard's Academy Award nominated performance as DJay, and I don't have much to add in that regard, because without Howard there would be no film. but the thing that really impressed me about this movie was the dense tapestry that was woven around Djay and his environment. I think too often, white left leaning people (myself included) tend to think of the inner city as this amorphous landscape where everyone in the neighborhood is troubled and that it is our duty as white liberals to "clean it up" and give the people that live there "opportunities." but where we make our fatal mistake is in not thinking of the people who actually live there and the living that the people who live there do. i think we are always quick to judge that the life of the pimp or the small time drug dealer is not a life worth living when that simply is not the case. DJay has made his way through the world by following the opportunities he has been given--his ability to manage his girls, his ability to find the best weed. through his rap he is able to find the poetry and inner beauty of life in the tough part of town. of course, once he finds his voice he wants to be heard, and convinces himself that if he plans it just right, he will be able to make it big. Of course, the best laid plans often go wrong and DJay's goes horribly wrong, which in the end might be the best thing that has happened to him and his dreams.

I would strongly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a good film. Yes, it is a movie about rap, but like all great movies it isn't about rap...it's about a person who wants to rap, just like Raging Bull just isn't a movie about a boxer. To claim that it is "just about" something is to try and belittle it, and this movie is too good to belittle. Five Stars (out of Five)