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Bryan Barber’s
“Idlewild” is Outkast’s own twist on “The Cotton Club,” a film set
during the depression era that puts to good use some of the best African
American actors, while also paying tribute to the music artists of that
time. With a semi-modern twist, Outkast’s original music, and a taste of
style, “Idlewild” is an original and surreal glimpse into the prohibition
era. One of the appealing aspects of this film is that the duo of
Outkast set their film down in the early nineteen hundreds and keeps
their film a musical, and a musical filled with entertaining numbers.
Though it’s not a masterpiece, it’s still a film I enjoyed, and one I
was looking forward to for a long time. Outkast is one of the rare hip
hop bands I actually enjoy, for the simple fact that their music almost
surpasses the tag of their genre.
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Andre
Benjamin is a wonderful singer and musician who also has the
bravado, near understated brilliance, and showmanship that
folks like Jimi Hendrix once had; take for example the
wonderful closing number, and you’ll bear witness why
Benjamin has the potential to break out as a legend if he
tries hard enough. Even when it becomes apparent he’s not
the greatest actor, he still carries a presence that helps
the audience to ignore his faults. The man is interesting as
the down on his luck piano player. |
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Subservient to his
father, meek, and often times just plain shy, he carries his suppressed
charisma into his music, and the night club he works in. His partner
Rooster, is played to equal competence by Big Boi, who is entertaining
as a character on the opposite spectrum of morals and life paths. While
Percival is off pursuing his music, Rooster is tangling with the mafia
and inevitably will pay for his seedy dealings. Paula Patton is
memorable as Percival’s love interest Angel, and she manages to make her
rather small character and make her stand out quite well. “Idlewild” is
clearly just a vehicle for the hip hop duo, but it’s one that seems to
try its best to stand out from the rest, in spite of the numerous
anachronisms. But all of the faults are basically forgiven when it
breaks into dance numbers, and that’s when Barber’s film comes alive,
and the energy is infectious. The choreography is fantastic, the pacing
is lively, and the music is just toe tapping energetic.
I had a lot of
high hopes for “Idlewild,” because it was different, and looked rather
entertaining, and in the end, I just wasn’t satisfied. Barber just goes
for all the typical storylines here, with a rather abrupt screeching
halt nearing the second half in which the film just seems to slow down
completely. “Idlewild” is sadly about twenty minutes too long, and would
have sufficed with a very good edit in the end. Within the film, there
are just so many plot twists that you could see coming a mile away, and
the clichés are almost endless. The romance with Angel and Percival is
rather mild, and never as passionate as it can be, while their
relationship is too superficial to really involve ourselves in, along
with Rooster, who is possibly the most ill-conceived character in the
bunch, while Terrence Howard's villain is under used and also rather
ill-conceived.
What was actually
Rooster's intention with the mob he dealt with, and why did he forget it
once he inherited the club? And we’re introduced to many hokey plot
devices like a bible that happens to save the life of Rooster during a
gun fight, his coming across an old woman on the side of a road, and the
tragiclimax that’s telegraphed halfway into the story. Barber just
continues going over material we’ve seen recycled millions of times,
along with introducing sub-plots that are just unresolved. Did Rooster
ever get out of crime? How did he gain such wealth in the climax? Didn’t
Percival ever blame him for what happened in the ending? What ever
happened to Percival’s father? And what did the talking flask even
represent? “Idlewild” is two hours long and still ends up feeling
incomplete and unresolved by the time the credits roll. And you just get
the impression Barber was more concerned with the bells and whistles and
not the actual story.
Though not as
good as I hoped it would be, it’s still an above par musical effort in the end. Outkast is still a great band, and I applaud them for going for a neo-noirish
depression era setting with an actual story, but still, it was cliché,
predictable, and void of any dimensional characters. And barely any
musical numbers? What a waste of an opportunity.
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