ATL

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Review #80 of 365
Film: ATL [PG-13] 100 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $10.50
When 1st Seen: 31 March 2006
Where Viewed: AMC Theaters Loews Webster 12, Webster, NY
Review Dedicated to: Shawn A. of Chicago, IL
ATL (the airport code for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport) has been billed as “A New American Story”. When I first read that, I thought it was a pretty heady tagline and unlikely to live up to it. In fact, I admit to being a bit anxious in general about what this film might bring to the screen. Would it be a film of hate or hope? Would it be a film that could be used by racists to further their stereotypes into reality or would it be able to cross racial lines and stand as billed as a new story? The answer to these questions is an unqualified yes.

Before the movie began, I sat in a giant theatre, and I saw something I had never seen before in a movie theatre in my life, a security presence. Was this typical for a Friday night crowd in Webster, NY? Had I inadvertently wandered into a potentially explosive scene? All I know is that it made me feel uneasy—a tension that was broken, thankfully, within the first few minutes of the film. The first few minutes of the film, actually, reminded me a lot of the first page of James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man which was the novel I read for my senior thesis in AP English in high school. If you have not read the book, which I encourage you to do against my rule of waiting for the film to come out first, the first page makes literally no sense. I recall feeling lucky to have been given such a short book to read for my thesis vs. the 600-page Jane Austen novels my friends were assigned, until I read the first page. I sat there thinking, “What have I gotten myself into.” A few days later, I got up the courage to turn the page and all was solved. Fortunately, in a movie, the reels keep on moving you through the story whether you are ready or not. So, just give the film time. The first few minutes will all come together and make sense.

Directed by Chris Robinson from a screenplay by Tina Gordon Chism based on a story by Antwone Fisher, ATL is a film about a tightly knit group of four young men who grow up in a neighborhood on the south side of Atlanta each with his own issues. The ‘leader’ of the group is Rashad (Tip Harris a.k.a. rapper T.I.) who on top of having to guide his crew of friends: Brooklyn (Albe Daniels), Esquire (Jackie Long), and Teddy (Jason Weaver), must deal with the loss of his parents to an auto accident, the oversight of his younger brother, Anton "Ant" (Evan Ross), and the coddling of a surrogate parent, his Uncle George (Mykelti Williamson). For release from all the stress of their everyday lives, Rashad’s group hangs out at a local Roller Rink where teams of skaters show up on Sunday nights to team skate routines in preparation for the annual competition. If you were like me and thought roller skating was gone with the 1970s, well, think again. Unfortunately, I thought, the film sets us all up for the big annual competition, only to fail to take us to it as Rashad’s life spins out of control and he works to right it. Things get complicated for him when Ant decides he prefers the guidance of a local drug dealer Marcus (Antwan "Big Boi" Patton) to that of his own flesh and blood, when Rashad meets an interesting girl named New-New at the rink to whom he takes a mutual liking, and when Rashad’s best friend, Esquire, seeks a college letter of recommendation from the rich and powerful African American CEO, John Garnett (Keith David). I cannot explain how the latter two are complications for Rashad without divulging important plot points, so you will just have to accept those two on faith. Naturally, it will be Ant’s activities that will consume the bulk of Rashad’s time and pain as he tries to hard to keep his little brother out of trouble.

Chris Robinson did an outstanding job of bringing this story to the screen with excellent camera work that pierces the lives of these characters rather than just pointing at it. Atlanta, also, makes for a beautiful backdrop. Meanwhile, the actors are all extremely good, and the music, including the rap (which I normally am not able to listen to rap for extended periods of time), was woven so carefully and precisely into the fabric of the film as to serve not only as background but as a reflection on the emotional states of the characters or the times. So, in conclusion, in answer to my original questions:
“Would it be a film of hate or hope?” It is one of hope. “Would it be a film that could be used by racists to further their stereotypes into reality or would it be able to cross racial lines and stand as billed as a new story?” The film does bring home a reality, and that is that we have many people in the USA who struggle to overcome their own set of circumstances be they the loss of their parents, lack of adequate financial resources, community and societal issues, etc. I thought it did a lot of really good things with the stereotyping issues pushing the boundaries a bit and treating the characters as dignified human beings not as stereotypical shells of people that Hollywood often uses. I found the story compelling and interesting. It certainly crossed racial lines in my mind and, ultimately, lived up to its billing. This is, at the core, a film about a young person trying to grow up against the unforeseeable forces of life just like nearly every kid in today’s world.