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I finally showed my brother HUSTLE & FLOW. Edd's a picky damn critic, but he bloody loved the film. The basic concept of a pimp trying to be a hip-hop star could easily have resulted in a shit movie. "A Star is Born" type films can be super-tricky to pull off, as ONCE did this past year.
What's interesting about HUSTLE & FLOW is that it's not a "realistic" movie, in many respects. But it's a poetic film, poetic without Hollywood bullshit. It actually reminds me a lot of a Tennessee Williams play, of the sweating and morally ambiguous southern dreamers; of reaching for the stars, and what happens when cold disillusionment of reality hits. Furthermore, the relationship of director (Craig Brewer) and star (Terrence Howard) reminded me of old-school Scorsese and De Niro for reasons I can't quite articulate. Maybe part of it is how Brewer shares Scorsese's love of using music to further a story.
This was even more evident in Brewer's second film, the controversial BLACK SNAKE MOAN (which I still maintain features Samuel L. Jackson's greatest performance since PULP FICTION and Christina Ricci's greatest performance ever). In fact, after seeing HUSTLE & FLOW, I finally went the hell out and bought the BLACK SNAKE MOAN soundtrack.
Mainly for Samuel L. Jackson's ass-kicking version of "Stack-O-Lee", also known as "Stackolee" and "Stagger Lee."
Some of you will likely perk up at that last one, as perhaps you may know a version or two yourself. In searching for an unbleeped video of the Jackson one on YouTube (none exist, bastards! What's the point of Samuel L. Jackson if he can't hear him shout "MOTHERFUCKER!"), I came upon this little ditty by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:
Dude. Wow.
So I just bought "Murder Ballads" right back the BLACK SNAKE MOAN soundtrack, so I can have both very different but equally ass-kicking versions of the song.
Seriously, to follow-up my "Mack the Knife" mega mix (where I found versions of the song by everyone from Sinatra, Jerry Orbach, The Doors, The Psychedelic Furs, yes even Nick Cave, and more), I'm now sorely tempted to do a mix of "Stack-O-Lee"/"Stackolee"/"Stagger Lee" covers. One glance at iTunes reveals that such a mix would encompass at least three discs. People have been singing versions of it since around 1910, at least.
So meantime I shall content myself with Nick Cave's and Sam Jackson's. Seriously, that link contains the entire unbleeped song. Jackson uses "motherfucker" the way Van Gogh used a paintbrush and Chow Yun-Fat used a handgun.
What's interesting about HUSTLE & FLOW is that it's not a "realistic" movie, in many respects. But it's a poetic film, poetic without Hollywood bullshit. It actually reminds me a lot of a Tennessee Williams play, of the sweating and morally ambiguous southern dreamers; of reaching for the stars, and what happens when cold disillusionment of reality hits. Furthermore, the relationship of director (Craig Brewer) and star (Terrence Howard) reminded me of old-school Scorsese and De Niro for reasons I can't quite articulate. Maybe part of it is how Brewer shares Scorsese's love of using music to further a story.
This was even more evident in Brewer's second film, the controversial BLACK SNAKE MOAN (which I still maintain features Samuel L. Jackson's greatest performance since PULP FICTION and Christina Ricci's greatest performance ever). In fact, after seeing HUSTLE & FLOW, I finally went the hell out and bought the BLACK SNAKE MOAN soundtrack.
Mainly for Samuel L. Jackson's ass-kicking version of "Stack-O-Lee", also known as "Stackolee" and "Stagger Lee."
Some of you will likely perk up at that last one, as perhaps you may know a version or two yourself. In searching for an unbleeped video of the Jackson one on YouTube (none exist, bastards! What's the point of Samuel L. Jackson if he can't hear him shout "MOTHERFUCKER!"), I came upon this little ditty by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:
Dude. Wow.
So I just bought "Murder Ballads" right back the BLACK SNAKE MOAN soundtrack, so I can have both very different but equally ass-kicking versions of the song.
Seriously, to follow-up my "Mack the Knife" mega mix (where I found versions of the song by everyone from Sinatra, Jerry Orbach, The Doors, The Psychedelic Furs, yes even Nick Cave, and more), I'm now sorely tempted to do a mix of "Stack-O-Lee"/"Stackolee"/"Stagger Lee" covers. One glance at iTunes reveals that such a mix would encompass at least three discs. People have been singing versions of it since around 1910, at least.
So meantime I shall content myself with Nick Cave's and Sam Jackson's. Seriously, that link contains the entire unbleeped song. Jackson uses "motherfucker" the way Van Gogh used a paintbrush and Chow Yun-Fat used a handgun.
