BLACK AND WHITE – DVD MovieJames Toback’s portrait of white and black culture mixing it up on the streets of Manhattan is like two films colliding. In the center of the swirl are a group of upper-class white teens (led by Elijah Wood and pop singer Bijou Phillips) who appropriate hip-hop culture to rebel against their affluent lifestyle, and a posse of gangstas and drug dealers (led by rap producer Oli “Power” Grant) who are themselves trying to get off the streets and into the business culture through their music. Aging indie filmmaker Toback has long shown an interest in character contradictions and quirks. Here the dynamic works: The two groups are genuinely curious about one another and mix with a cautious but untroubled ease. Less successful is the contrived drama that orbits this cultural mix but never quite meshes–such as Ben Stiller as a self-loathing New York cop who blackmails college basketball star Allan Houston into betraying his boyhood buddy turned street criminal.
Toback spices his Altmanesque style of restless camera work and impressionistic intercutting with attitude, nervous energy, and in-your-face sex. There’s an interesting story to be told here, but the provocative cultural mix gets lost in the self-conscious melodrama and only periodically roars to life, notably in the edgy, unpredictable scenes with Mike Tyson (an inspired bit of casting that works marvelously). Also featured are rapper Raekwon, supermodel Claudia Schiffer, Brooke Shields, and Robert Downey Jr. –Sean Axmaker
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December 27, 2010
#1
Black and White? Nothing but tripe…,
My God! My eyes are open! I finally see through the lies of the media! Thank you, Toback! Now I know that all black culture is little more than rap, drugs, murder and basketball! How unenlightened I’ve been! I now see that the white upperclass of America really is falling prey to the hiphop culture of the street!
What? This isn’t true? REALLY? Well, you wouldn’t know from Black and White, a by-the-numbers “tell-it-like-it-is” of the true state of the American way of life. Every stereotype of Griffith’s Birth of a Nation is present, albeit from a differing angle. I guess this is why so much indie culture comes out of the midwest (the whitest of whitebread); they can say these things in their craft, and everyone here is duped by the result. I grew up in the South, where people of color actually live in large numbers. Not only did I KNOW a black guy, not only did I have black friends, but actually, I lived in (gasp!) a black neighborhood! I sat in classrooms which were…predominantly black! However, after coming to the midwest and teaching four years in the university here, I have had one, ONE black student.
This can be the only reason that Black and White is actually highly regarded. This movie is Tripe (with a capitol T). Oh and one more thing: white critics of America, stop falling for this “commentary” on racial relations in America. Maybe then, we can get something with a LITTLE realism!
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|December 27, 2010
#2
Two Faces,
I have watched this DVD several times, and that ususally means it is one of my favorites, a five star performance. In this case, however, because of the director’s inability to create cohesion between his two visions of how to tell this story (these stories) I give the film only four stars.First of all, there are the films many strengths: the hip-hop world has never been better and more honestly and more non-judgmentally portrayed; Mike Tyson, Downey JR., Houston, Phillips, and Schiffer give great performances; Much is learned about the connection between affluent white kids and hip-hop culture. Deep stuff.The big problem with the movie is that it would have worked as a documentary style film, or it would have worked as a plotted detective story. When these two ideas come together, however, the gritty reality of the hip-hop world does not mesh with the necessarily artificial plot contrivances of the detective story (even though it is a pretty good detective story).
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|December 27, 2010
#3
SADLY MYOPIC VIEW OF RACE RELATIONS IN U.S.,
Although I had a feeling this film was going to be “bad news”, I decided to watch it anyhow. After watching it (looking for something redeeming), I found very little. For the most part, it was pointless. However, I will attempt to elaborate on why I didn’t like “Black and White”…
As I watched the film, I got the feeling that Toback meant to use hip-hop (rappers) to represent “Black” culture, and upper-middle class white teens, their families, and various other adults to represent “White” culture. I have two problems with this:
#1) There is an imbalance of cinematic representation: on the Black side, we see rappers, two athletes, and just one Black female (Kidada Jones). On the White side, we see teens, their parents (including a District Attorney), a police officer (Ben Stiller), an anthropological student (Claudia Schiffer), studio owners, lawyers, a teacher (Jared Leto), and two documentary filmmakers (Brooke Shields and Robert Downey Jr.). Put concisely, I feel Toback’s assertion that Black people as a whole can be defined by solely “hip-hop” culture is just plain silly, and incredibly stereotypical.
#2) Hip-hop, while it has roots in African-American tradition, is no longer the “Black” artform or culture that it once was. Like Jazz and Rock’n'Roll music before it, people of all races (Def Jam Germany anyone?) are currently participating and excelling in their study, appreciation, and performance of hip-hop. A more accurate description of hip-hop music now would be to call it a “youth culture” music.
The fact that some White youths tend to look outside their “culture” for a sense of identity is nothing new, and is definitely not limited to just “hip-hop” culture. Sociologically speaking, some segments of White culture have always been fascinated with the idea of appropriating aspects of foreign cultures (both domestic and international) for their own uses – from Madonna’s late ’90s fascination with Eastern religions, to Paul Simon’s Graceland album. Really, this is nothing new. I think the conflicts (and shocking sex scenes) in this film will only help to crystallize racial divisions in our society. There are no solutions proposed, let alone explored.
The only redeeming performance in this whole film was Robert Downey Jr — he never seemed to take himself too seriously, and this worked brilliantly well considering the pathetic context of this film.
C.H.R.
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