Movie Review: Crash

Crash (2005) 

Directed by Paul Haggis

Written by Paul Haggis

Starring Ludacris, Lorenz Tate, Brendan Fraser, Sandra Bullock, Shaun Toub, Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton, Terrence Howard 

Release Date May 6th, 2005

Published May 5th, 2005

Paul Haggis showed the depth of his talents as a writer with his Oscar nominated script for Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby. The natural progression of any filmmaking career has lead Mr. Haggis out from behind the computer keys to behind the camera directing his first feature. Working from his own script, Mr. Haggis has crafted Crash, an intricately plotted and engrossing drama about the futility of violence, the helplessness of anger and the politics of race.

As two well dressed young African American men, Anthony (Rapper, Ludacris) and Peter (Lorenz Tate), walk down an affluently appointed street in Los Angeles discussing race, they are the only black faces to be seen. Even as they dress and act like they belong here, Anthony can't help but note the most minor of slights from the lack of good service in the restaurant they just left to a rich white woman (Sandra Bullock) who crosses the street with her husband (Brendan Fraser) when she see's them.

Anthony asks Peter what makes them so different from all these white people aside from race? They provide an answer to his question by summarily bringing out guns and stealing the couple's SUV. This act touches off a series of events that envelopes a pair of cops played by Matt Dillon and Ryan Phillippe, a detective and his partner played by Don Cheadle and Jennifer Espisito, a locksmith and his family (Michael Pena) an Arab family headed up by Farhad (Shaun Toub) and a black married couple played by Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton.

When Sgt. Ryan (Dillon) and his rookie partner Hanson (Phillippe) get a call that a car jacking has taken place nearby, Ryan pulls over the next similar looking car he sees. Despite the fact that the SUV is clearly not the one they are looking for (Hanson points out that the license plate is different) Ryan stops it anyway after seeing the driver, Cameron (Howard), black. The stop is marked by Ryan harassing Cameron's wife Christine (Newton) over the weak protest of Hanson. The incident is devastating to Cameron and Christine's marriage.

Peter happens to be the brother of police detective Graham Waters (Cheadle) who, as a result of the carjacking, is brought to the attention of the L.A District Attorney Rick Cabot, the victim of the crime along with his wife, Jean (Again, Brendan Fraser and Sandra Bullock). Cabot wants a black detective on the case to avoid accusations of racism and he wants Detective Waters specifically.

Meanwhile Jean at home alone is absolutely freaked out by the incident and has had the locks changed. Unfortunately when her husband sent for a locksmith (Michael Pena) he did not know he was a tattooed inner city Latino, something his wife notes immediately in accusing the man of wanting to change the locks in order to return later and rob her. For his part the locksmith is good hearted family man who has struggled to get out from under this sort of cultural bias all his life.

When the locksmith accepts one more late night job at the grocery store before heading home we get a very tense scene between he and the shop owner Farhad (Shaun Taub) an Iranian immigrant who speaks very little English. What was a simple misunderstanding due to the language barrier very nearly turns violent and leads into yet another scene at the locksmith's home that may be the strongest moment in the film when you yourself see it.

The links between all of the various characters in Crash are tenuous in terms of actual interaction. However in terms of themes, race and racism, they could not be more strongly connected. So bold are the themes and the characters that you can forgive the often forced attempts to connect them physically in the same scene or plot strand.  

Crash is akin to Paul Thomas Anderson's extraordinary 1999 ensemble drama Magnolia. Both films share a reliance on chance and fate and sprawling casts of well known and respected actors. Crash Director Paul Haggis eschews Anderson's esoteric flights of fancy-- there are no frogs in Crash-- but both films pack an emotional punch that will leave the theater with you. Crash is hampered slightly by not having Magnolia's extravagant run time of three plus hours, for at a mere 93 minutes the film has far less time to establish its characters.

Haggis makes up for this by creating dramatic scenarios that are harrowingly tense and emotional. The scenes involving Michael Pena's locksmith and Shaun Toub's Iranian shop keeper are an extraordinary example of Mr. Haggis's ability to craft confrontations that provoke fate without entirely crossing that thin line between dramatic realism and fantasy.

Crash is ostensibly about racism but it goes much deeper than that into an examination of the psyche of a broad expanse of people displaced emotionally by tragedy, by violence, by hatred and more importantly by chance. Chance is the strangest of all, the way people are sometimes thrown together in situations they never could have imagined. Chance breeds fear but it can also breed love. You can meet your end by chance or meet your destiny. Crash is all about chance encounters, people crashing into one another and the way their lives unfold afterwards.

A brilliant announcement of a new talent arriving, Crash brings Paul Haggis from behind the writer's desk and into the director's chair in the way that Paul Schrader broke from his roots of writing for Martin Scorsese to direct his first great film American Gigolo. Like Schrader, Haggis will continue writing for others (he and Eastwood are collaborating once more on the upcoming Flags of Our Fathers), but with Crash, Mr. Haggis shows where his future really lies.

Movie Review Hustle and Flow

Hustle and Flow (2005)

Directed by Craig Brewer 

Written by Craig Brewer

Starring Terrence Howard, Paula Jai Parker, Anthony Anderson, Taraji P. Henson, D.J Qualls, Ludacris

Release Date July 22nd, 2005

Published June 21st, 2005 

Certain artists make their statement with such passion that you can't help but be moved. Jimi Hendrix's guitar could sound like a chainsaw but was played with such passion that you could not help but listen intently. Bruce Springsteen's lyrics, be they about heartbreak or happiness, delivered in that raspy scream or sorrowful whisper are similarly moving. Writer-Director Craig Brewer captures a glimpse of this kind of passion in his film Hustle and Flow. The story of a Memphis pimp who dreams of escaping the ghetto for the world of a rap star, Hustle and Flow delivers a powerful look at the kind of unyielding desire that creates great music.

Terrence Howard stars in Hustle and Flow as Djay. Pimping 20 dollars out of the back of his Caprice classic, Djay has reached the age where his father, a garbage man, died. His age has caused a revelation for Djay.  He begins to feel his life slipping away and an emptiness that his current business cannot fill. He confesses some of these feelings in an exceptional opening monologue delivered to one of his girls, Nola (Taryn Manning).

At home Djay has, not only Nola but also Shug (Taraji P. Henson) pregnant and put upon, and  Lexus (Paula Jai Parker). Because she can't work Shug is raising Lexus's child, Lexus also works as a stripper and her independent income makes her often difficult to deal with. Needless to say, Djay's surroundings contribute heavily to his sense of desperation.

Then, in a chance encounter in a gas station, Djay hooks up with an old high school buddy named Key (Anthony Anderson). Working as a sound engineer recording church choirs, Key had always dreamed of opening a studio to produce rap records. When Key brings Djay to church to hear the choir, the music inspires Djay to finally express his thoughts musically.

With Key's help, and the help of a skinny white kid named Shelby (D.J. Qualls), Djay records a rap record with the hope that if it's any good he can get it in the hands of a local rapper, Skinny Black (Ludacris), who is returning to town for one night only. He knows if Skinny Black here's his music he will make it big, get out of the ghetto and live happily ever after.

Hustle and Flow has a familiar rags to riches in the music biz plot. Movies as varied as A Star Is Born or Glitter have mined this same plot to varying degrees of success. What sets Hustle and Flow apart is  Craig Brewer's artful direction that takes cues from 70's blaxploitation and modern music videos and Terrence Howard's visceral and feral performance. And finally the music, which is an impactful and impassioned brand of hip hop from the streets of Memphis called Crunk.

Craig Brewer directs Hustle and Flow, his second feature after the obscure The Poor and Hungry, with a style and flair that perfectly captures its place but remains timeless. Brewer happened upon the story from his own midlife crisis. Reaching the age his father had died at, 27 years old, Brewer felt compelled to do something lasting and combined with a unique run in with a Memphis pimp while scouting locations for another film, Hustle and Flow was born.

The film captures a version of Memphis, Tennessee, from the heat to the hustle, in a way similar to how Martin Scorsese captures his New York City, that way that feels definitive and true. Amy Vincent's cinematography brings the humid, sweat soaked streets of Memphis to vivid life while production designer Keith Brian Burns creates sets that have a lived in feel so familiar you could swear you've been in that place.

Terrence Howard is electric in a complicated, hard-bitten performance. The character is uncompromising and not always a good person but his music and his all consuming desire to escape his despair make Djay sympathetic whether he strives to be or not. Howard does all of his own rapping in the film and shows an exceptional and unexpected talent for it.

What a great year for Terrence Howard. His powerful supporting performance in Paul Haggis' Crash is a remarkable turn. Now with Hustle and Flow, Howard has the kind of one-two punch that Jamie Foxx had in 2004 with Collateral and Ray. Howard does not have the big studio support that Foxx had last year, which makes him much more of a longshot come Oscar time, but it's unquestionable that both performances deserve recognition.

The lasting effect of Hustle and Flow comes from the film's soundtrack. With contributions from Memphis rap stars 3 Six Mafia and Al Capone and Terrence Howard's incredibly adept raps the music rings with the character's desire and desperation. Capone and 3 Six Mafia wrote all of Djay's raps but indeed it is Howard himself rapping in the film.

The music, with titles like "Whoop That Trick" and "It's Hard For A Pimp", have the raw power and resonance of rap music before it was co-opted and forced into the mainstream. Before rappers became consumed by their fame and began writing more about Cristal Champagne than about what was really happening on the streets.

Terrence Howard is emerging as a huge talent. Crash was a wake-up call and Hustle and Flow is a full on announcement of Terrence Howard's formidable gifts. Combined with arguably the year's best soundtrack and the phenomenal direction of Craig Brewer, Terrence Howard makes Hustle and Flow one of 2005's all-too-rare must-see pictures.