Not another biopic!

Honestly, I’m not quite sure how this slipped under my radar. They’ve only gone and made a film about the life of Christopher Wallace, or The Notorious B.I.G. I won’t lie – this prospect fills me with dread. 11 years might be a sufficient gap before they make a film about the man, but that doesn’t mean it has to be done.

The trailer plays out with some snippets of Biggie songs, like Juicy and Hypnotize, but the lead track is the posthumously released Notorious. Of course.

The dialogue is sickening, as characters utter clichéd movie lines as appalling as “you not goin’ back on the block – not if I take this bid fo’ yo ass” and “Can’t change the world unless we change ourselves.” Quite.

A quick glance at the casting shows that they’ve gone with unknowns, which is probably a good idea, although Anwan Glover (aka Slim from The Wire) should make for an excellent Snoop Dogg.

Who knows. It could be great. I’ll wager, however, that it won’t be.

The Dopeness in Life

At the weekend I went to see The Wackness, a film about a high school graduate (Josh Peck) who sells drugs to a therapist (Ben Kingsley) in return for sessions, while harbouring a serious crush on said therapist’s step-daughter. It’s a nice little film, not spectacular but by no means unimpressive, but what really struck me about the film was its soundtrack. It’s been a while since I’ve cared too much about the music in a film, but this was, for me at any rate, something special. Set in 1994, it features several classics of the hip-hop genre, reflecting the tastes of any self-respecting low-level drug dealer. For example, the teen has a Jeru The Damaja poster in his bedroom, and lives his life with his headphones around his neck, cassettes at his fingertips.

There were a few moments in the film that I found quite curious: while Peck sits on the train imagining girls pole dancing through the carriage the sound of Nas’ The World Is Yours drifts from his headphones onto the film’s soundtrack. This track features lyrical references to the film Gandhi, which stars one Ben Kingsley. A few minutes later, as Peck goes to visit his drug supplier (played by Wu-Tang’s Method Man), he hears The Notorious B.I.G. for the first time. The track in question is The What, from his debut album Ready To Die, featuring, of all people, Method Man, whose on screen persona is extolling the qualities of this new release. I find it hard to believe that these allusions and connections are entirely coincidental, and they only added to the joy of watching this film.

Sometimes, when a film wears such influences so obviously on its sleeve I can find it quite off-putting, as in Juno for example, or several of the works of Cameron Crowe. This film manages to pull it off, however, as the languid beats and rhymes on the soundtrack perfectly reflect and complement the sweaty summer days in which these characters find themselves. A Tribe Called Quest’s famous Can I Kick It? features, as does Craig Mack’s Flava In Ya Ear. To top it off, R Kelly’s Bump n’ Grind even manages to make an appearance, and, without wanting to give anything away, I doubt a more appropriate song could possibly have been chosen. Ultimately, the best thing that I can say about this film is that it has reminded me of everything that I love about hip-hop, so much so that over the last few days I’ve been returning to some of the classics of the genre, such as Nas’ Illmatic and the aforementioned Ready To Die. I can only recommend that you do too.

Edit: I just noticed that Jim Carroll posted something similar about this film this morning. Great minds eh!