Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

"Hustle & Flow" (2005) was written and directed by Craig Brewer (who also wrote and directed “Black Snake Moan” after its success). It showcases an intense and Oscar-nominated performance by Terrence Howard (who was a standout in "Crash" as the executive whose wife is felt up by the policeman while he has to stand by) and has as integral-to-the-movie Oscar-winning song as there's ever been, “It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp.”

The movie starts very slowly but becomes interesting when DJay, the Memphis pimp and smalltime drug-dealer Howard plays, focuses on recording his own rap (with the unlikely combination of Anthony Anderson and DJ Qualls, the latter who really is from Tennessee.

The recording process interested me, but the best part is trying to enlist the patronage of former-Memphis-homeboy rapper star "Skinny Black” (Ludacris). The legendary Isaac Hayes is on hand in an acting role as a bartender. Taraji P. Henson is also outstanding as DJay’s pregnant girlfriend, as is Taryn Manning as the breadwinner and Anthony Anderson as the skinny (white) keyboardist called “Key” who makes a living playing in churches but also has some record-producing experience.

DJay is conniving at best, abusive at worse. He may not dress like a stereotypical pimp and he wants to leave pimping behind (to be pimped as a recording artist…), but he has the mindset of an exploiter of women, including those nearest and dearest to him. Howard conveys his hopes and frustrations, as well as his swaggering exploitative habits, and performs “Whoop That Trick” with enthusiastic panache. The intensity of his desire to do music instead of rent women makes it much easier for viewers to sympathize or empathize with him. Pimping is something DJay does, but is not who he is. What he is is an aspirant for success, striving underdogs are a rather common hook for movies. And the genre often includes others in the aspirant’s circle discovering talents as well as displaying loyalty. The social locale is unconventional, but there’s still a lot of “The Little Engine Who Could” to the exercise.

Eventually, there is violence, but it is not routine in the underworld of DJay and his girls. And when DJay needs to get neighbors to turn down the volume of music that is interfering with recording his own, he uses diplomacy rather than violence or threats of violence. But when he sees that he has been disrespected by the seemingly convivial “Skinny Black,” on whose help he counted, watch out!

Ghetto Memphis looks appropriately gritty in Amy Vincent’s somewhat grainy cinematography. (It looks very 70s, and on the commentary track, Brewer professes his admiration for Francis Ford Coppola’s “Rain People.”)

Craig Brewer’s commentary track on the DVD has many stories to tell. Getting the movie made was very difficult (ultimately, it took John Singleton mortgaging his house to provide the money). Brewer also shows how knowledgeable about the Memphis music scenes he is. There is a standard “making of” featurette with audition and rehearsal footage and talking heads, “Behind the Hustle”, There’s a separate one (“By Any Means Necessary”) that shows that raising money for a movie with no stars and no track record is more difficult than being a pimp, and no easier than breaking into the music business. Plus there’s another one about the making of the movie’s music “Creatin’ Crunk” in which composer Scott Bomar shows that he also knows the Memphis music scenes intimately. Plus two trailers and six tv spots and two extended scenes.

---

© 2007, Stephen O. Murray


At 586 words this still fits the expansive definition of lean-n-mean. Today's is the final day of CaptainD's good movie writeoff, so this is my final contribution to it.




Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age