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Directed by: David LaChapelle Starring: ... Rize is a over-hyped and disappointing documentary about a new style of dance that has emerged in Los Angeles. Yes, LaChapelle will try to convince you that it is more than a trend, but it's a tough sell, and I didn't come out believing it. Most of Rize is shot as one would expect -- street shots of people dancing and dancers being interviewed in their homes. The street shots are very well filmed, no doubt thanks to LaChapelle's background. It does appear, however, that he wasn't quite pleased with the "organic" sessions and has inserted several staged ones into the documentary. It's not dishonest, as it's pretty clear when the dancers are suddenly water-soaked and standing in front of well-framed backdrops, but it still feels uncessary. Aside from the krumping/clowning, we're introduced to the "stripper dance", which is basically just a formal name for the rear end-shaking featured in rap videos. We're also told it's "not sexual" because it's done solo; and then treated to images of a pre-teen girl loving the floorboards. It's not all a bust, and the dancing does provide occasional entertaining moments, but the rest is just repeatative and uninteresting. People want to believe in a story about inner city youth finding nonviolent creative outlets, which really accounts for much of Rize's publicity. Unfortunately, we're talking about 500 kids painting their faces and holding seizure competitions. I can't ever see this becoming mainstream or having much of an impact beyond the communities in which it was founded, and LaChapelle's wishful thinking in Rize just isn't convincing. The best it can hope for is to have its best elements (of which there are few) co-opted by the existing mainstream hiphop dance culture. Rize really reminds me of compilation videos made for fans -- like skateboarding videos that are really only entertaining if you can recognize faces/tricks. A clownin fan might go "OH poo poo! Lil' C just tore it up" but I was just like "some guy with gay makeup on his face is shaking his limbs as fast as he can". RATING: 1.5 PROS: The dancing looks... uh... strenuous? CONS: Most of the dancing, much of LaChapelle's direction ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436724/ Bloated Pussy fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Sep 7, 2005 |
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Sep 7, 2005 18:46
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I dunno, I was mildly entertained by it all, and I found the connections it drew to be profound enough to pique my interest. I also liked the music quite a bit. 3.5/5
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Sep 10, 2005 18:54
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