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TAKING THE RAP

Today's movie was Michel Gondry directed concert film

Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2005)

This film almost does the impossible. It makes rap and hip hop palatable to an old white fart like me.

It is a film. Not a concert.

Had I been made to sit or stand and watch the proceedings I would have been out of there forthwith. But Gondry mixes the show with rehearsal with talk with Chappelle bits in a way that keeps things moving and nothing lasts long enough to get old.

I realize the difficulty in presenting a live concert live. Keeping the energy up. When it is seen on film, unless the director is extremely creative, the flatness of it all comes down on the viewer. Here we are lifted up.

Chappelle is an engaging character. He famously walked away from a 50 million dollar contract because, well, it wasn't right. It didn't feel OK.

I can see that he is not formula. Not a sellout.

Gondry himself does some of the interviewing. The questions are always sideways to the proceedings and the answers fresh and spontaneous.

The idea is simple. The execution is quite complex and the result is wonderful.

I will give this film a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films