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Review #228 of 365
Film: Idlewild (2006) [R] 121 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.25
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 26 August 2006
Time: 7:45 p.m.
Soundtrack: Download Outkast's Idlewild music (not the soundtrack) here 
– or - order the similar CD below
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Writer-Director Bryan Barber, most well known for directing hip-hop videos for Outkast, has done for prohibition era, gangster musicals what the Wachowski brothers did for post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, action thrillers. If that seems like an odd thing to say, well it is. Barber's, Idlewild, featuring an incredible cast with homage to the black actors who paved the way including the incomparable Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen along with some marquee actors of the present day in Terrence Howard and Ving Rhames, side by side with some of the freshest musicians turned actors in Outkast's André Benjamin and Big Boi Antwan A. Patton, Macy Gray, and Patti LaBelle, blends non sequitur animation, hip hop choreography, musical numbers including a credit-closing finale that looks straight out of a 1930s Chicago night club, with a story of gangsters running moonshine throughout the southern United States creating a sometimes confusing but always entertaining montage film. Some may fault the story as simplistic, but I have to say there were many, many times when I asked myself, "Am I watching one of the best movies of the year right now?" You see, all year long, as it always has, my mind tries to guess which films will be nominated for best picture. It taps into some tingles in the spine for guidance. So, far, I've gotten the tingles during Thank You For Smoking, Cars, The Illusionist, An Inconvenient Truth, Little Miss Sunshine, Pirates of the Caribbean II, and now Idlewild. There are so many fascinating things about this film to discuss, along with the potential for it to actually be one of the best films of the year. Hey, Chicago won, and it is one of only two films I've ever walked out on. So, in my book, Idlewild is 100 shades better than Chicago.
"… a soulful river of heritage, creativity, and sensibility as uncommon and divine as one may witness in films today…"
Some people might boil the story down thusly. Two little boys, Percival and Rooster grow up in highly dysfunctional families in depression-era, rural Georgia destined to fail to escape their fathers footsteps. Rooster (Antwan A. Patton) therefore, will carry on the moonshine runs and Percival (André Benjamin) will become a mortician. After an upstart junior in the employ of mob boss Spats (Ving Rhames) named Trumpy (Terrence Howard) kills both his boss and Sunshine Ace (Faizon Love) owner and operator of Idlewild's 'finest' drinking and partying establishment known as the Church where both Rooster and Percy moonlight as a main stage entertainer and a sidebar piano player, Rooster inherits the earnings of the club as well as his boss's debts. One of these includes a paying off on a four-week contract to Ms. Angel Davenport (Paula Patton) who quickly challenges the Percy's celibacy. The other debts are payable to Trumpy who inherited, also by default, all of the Boss's financial streams. The remainder of the film focuses on Rooster's quick rise and cataclysmic fall as gentlemen entrepreneur and Percy's struggle to permit himself to fall in love with Angel only to then lose her once and for all in the most painful and tragic of ways.
"…hypnotic, outdated rule-defying script."
Beneath this outline, however, flows a soulful river of heritage, creativity, and sensibility as uncommon and divine as one may witness in films today. Did Mr. Barber build this intentionally or did it arise organically from the interaction of the parts he placed into it. In either case, anyone who dismisses this film too easily and blasts the 'animation tricks', camera work, or plot, has done the equivalent of reading the first paragraph of James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and closed the book. There is so much more going on here. First, this is the first all-black cast I've ever watched in a film, as a white person, and not wondered "Where's the token white cast member?" nor "Why isn't there a single white person in this film?" There are no token people of any kind in the film. Second, while there is a bit of a notion that both Percy and Rooster are in a race against their own destinies which become intertwined because as children they share a love for music and records, there is a surreal subtext where both taste the madness of their lives and world. For Percy this comes in musical notes that come to life on the pages of music he scribes, and for Rooster it's the talking rooster on his moonshine-filled flask. These and other animation tricks permit a glimpse into their minds as into our own where the dreams of our egos battle with the realities of the circumstances our lives. Third, Mr. Barber has used some-Matrixesque camera techniques to slow in on a bullet or freeze dancers for a moment mid-move. To what end? Do these have any place in a film that is not a futuristic sci-fi thriller gone mad? They do inasmuch as they define an ethereal feeling in the film from start to finish that longs to immerse audience members in the story not just flash on the screen in front of them. The test of how effective the film has been in reaching this goal comes near the end. Those that are in it, will not leap to their feet for Percy's finale as the credits roll, rather they will sit mesmerized by the realization that he has broken free from the bindings of his destiny and forged a new future for himself. We don't need to know how he did it, only that he did it, and the record that Rooster's young daughter has placed on the victrola to play is not just any only record but actually Percy's record. Forth, this is not a film with intergenerational talent run amok or stunt cameos by screen legends to pull in viewers. The cast members were equally drawn into the fast-moving current of this hypnotic, outdated-rule defying script.
"… truly original, one-of-a-kind…"
I hope all people will give this film the chance it deserves. It may not be perfect in every way, yet it maintains the look and feel of one of the best films of the year. The sepia-toned lighting, lavish period costumes, creative camerawork, absolute attention to detail, depth of character, story, action, and soul; the incredible talent of the cast, the true beauty of subtlety of the relationships due to the elegance of the writing which chooses nuance vs. frying pan to reveal the secrets, the complexity of the subtext and foreshadowing, and the sheer fun of seeing Rooster bust onto the Church stage and become this dynamic, invincible, crowd-pleasing presence just after having been brow beaten in the car in the alley behind the club by his wife who begs him to spend more time at home with the kids but whom has not even the beginnings of inklings as to who her husband really is, all stand out to make this a truly original, one-of-a-kind movie.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Video Projects Featuring: André Benjamin • Antwan A. Patton
Paula Patton • Terrence Howard • Faizon Love
Cicely Tyson • Macy Gray • Ving Rhames • Ben Vereen
Music Featuring: André Benjamin • Antwan A. Patton
Macy Gray • Outkast
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Idlewild (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Writer-Director Bryan Barber, known for directing Outkast videos, has done for prohibition era, gangster musicals what the Wachowskis did for post-apocalyptic, action thrillers. Idlewild, featuring an incredible cast with homage to the black actors who paved the way (Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen), along with marquee actors of the present (Terrence Howard and Ving Rhames), side by side great musicians turned actors (André Benjamin, Antwan A. Patton, Macy Gray, and Patti LaBelle), blends non sequitur animation and hip-hop, choreographed, musical numbers with a story of gangsters running moonshine to create a soulful river of heritage and sensibility as uncommon and divine as one may witness in films today. Sepia-toned lighting, lavish period costumes, creative camerawork, attention to detail, an elegance to the writing which chooses nuance vs. frying pan, the complexity of the subtext and foreshadowing, all stand out making this a truly original movie—possibly one of the year's best.
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