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UKHH.com at the MOVIES... Its not really the kind of cinema I've ever been in before - sitting in one of 20th Century Fox's private screening room in Soho Square. You know like the kind of cinema's you see in the films - proper classy - believe me I was waiting for the film to start thinking that some bird was gonna boost in and ask me what I wanted to drink n' munch. But yo - I knew the truth - if she did she would ask the peeps from the Guardian and Telegraph first innit... I knew I could wait my turn. Anyhow - enough bullshit cos this dream turns to dust, the curtain slides and the film kicks in. I never knew much about the film beforehand except that it was set in London and was about some mates wanting to make a hiphop record. So I'm gonna break the story down and then review the film. Basically - the film follows three mates who are into different things but all hang together cos they wanna cut hiphop tracks. They aint got no cash n' basically the film follows them as they try to get round this. The film has other plotlines following them n' how the dynamics of the three work in response to differences in like family histories, birds, race, etc. Oh yeh n' theres a little jedi type Rasta weed head who kinda drops some knowledge to try n' get the rapper of the crew (whose name is Rage) to come more cerebral in his rhymes from reading books n' whatnot. Oh yeh n' theres a fuckin funny Nigerian dealer/estate honcho as well. But mainly it follows the three of them tryin to sort this record out n' disintegrating at each other along the way. To be honest the plot jumps about a bit n' sort of twists itself into a shape but there are many loops which are introduced but then sit untouched for the rest of the flick. The plot does flow well in terms of the main story - although the ending does come quite quickly packaged and sorta pops out all finished n' clear. I dont want to ruin the film but they go out n' try to burglarise a house in order to catch the cash to do a record n' things move apart from there. Oh yeh and it ends up being Miss Purple with a lead pipe in the study.... DOH sorry. The film is nicely paced and the camera stuff is cool - its all a bit gritty n' thats not just due to the locations cos its definitely amplified by the way its been done. The angles come a little bit like Resident Evil at times - all odd off angle shots when you dont catch it - this gives it a lot of kinetic energy cos it seems nuff edgey and slighty rushy. To be fair though the film is given that edge because its set perfectly to the music - there is some proper lovely tracks thru the film n' it all comes together properly. At times I was like feelin it to be a bit like La Haine with three yutes from different races n' stuff all chilling together. The acting was a bit of a weird one for me - I wasnt sure straight from the off cos one of the main characters is the geezer (John Pickard) from 2.4 children. So you need a bit of flex in your mind to get over that one cos he bowls in givin it the "Safe, Yo yo yo, Later" chat n' your a bit like "huh? wheres the shit joke?" for a while but it clears out after a while. The acting is strong and the characterisation comes across well - for example the lead actor playing 'Rage' (Fraser Ayres) stands up to the pressure of carrying the most of the film. The only other thing was I spent kinda the whole film looking for little cameo snippets from some ukhiphop heads - and I aint gonna say whether there are any. Go see it. From the music end of matters there are some nice scenes of live music/poetry performances as well - but for me - the soundtrack was lovely and took the film and drove it to places it wouldnt have got with the standard incidental music you sometimes see in films of this type. How can you front when the film has about 45 tracks including - Mark B n' Blade, Rodney P, Swollen Members, Styly Cee, DefTex, Herbaliser, Vadim, NF4O, Roots Manuva, DJ Food, MC Mello, Quakes and UK Kartel. The use of hiphop in films isnt extra new but to use homegrown hiphop in a UK flick is revolutionary for us and here it can conclusively be shown thats its blindin for keepin the vibe UK - like to context the Uk images, London chat n' general stories. It all blends wicked n' keeps the fires burning in the belly. So overall I think for a debut feature film it has concise direction n' a style of its own - and once you check how it was put together financially you know its a proper struggle and you respect how good they made it. So to finally summarise (hoho) its a wicked film that has some shortcomings but truly deserves your support. SO support this please - the first uk hiphop movie. Wicked - big up all involved.
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