40 Film Challenge: Week 4 (5-4-2020)

WEEK 4: "IT'S HARD OUT HERE FOR A PIMP"

In 2006, Three 6 Mafia became the first hip-hop group to win an Academy Award for their song “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp,” the benchmark song performed by Terence Howard in “Hustle & Flow.” The Memphis-based rap trio wasn’t the first group to kick-off the “Dirty South” rap phenomenon of the 90’s (that title probably belongs to OutKast), but their success did open the floodgates for a new wave of radio-ready rappers like Paul Wall and Mike Jones, eventually cresting with the more recent boom of Atlanta-based SoundCloud artists.

Their music can be distinctly summarized by the title of that award-winning movie: hustle and flow. The flow, of course, refers to one’s ability on the mic, but the hustle is what this week’s batch of movies is based around. All these films feature main characters who are hustlers in one way or another. Whether it’s trying to make a quick buck, or a lot of quick bucks, or just make whatever is needed to keep your head above water for one more day. We all hustle, and these movies offer differing glimpses into what it is that drives us to do so.

CLASSIC:

“There Will Be Blood” (2007)

Written by Paul Thomas Anderson

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Genre: Drama

The empty horizon of the American West was the perfect canvas for men like Daniel Plainview, who saw godless lands looking for a savior. Of course, these lands weren’t godless or empty, but through the lens of capitalism everything is up for grabs. Paul Thomas Anderson’s tale of American Greed is expansive and riveting, a perfect snapshot of our country’s deceitful myth-making. At the center is Daniel Day Lewis’s towering performance, commanding your attention with his snarling, mustachioed face and penchant for milkshake metaphors. NEW CLASSIC:

“The Breadwinner” (2017)

Written by Anita Doron, Debora Ellis

Directed by Nora Twomey

Genre: Animated, Drama

"The Breadwinner" captures life in Afghanistan with vibrant accuracy. Parvana is an 11-year-old girl who’s father is unjustly thrown in prison, forcing her to disguise herself as a boy to provide for her mother, sister, and young brother. The simple but stark animation serves as the perfect mediary between the harsh reality of life under the Taliban and storybook fantasy told to us by Parvana. Unflinching and heartfelt, it’s one of the decade’s best animated features.

DEEP CUT:

“A Serious Man” (2009)

Written by Joel Coen, Etan Coen

Directed by Joel Coen, Etan Coen

Genre: Drama

What does it mean to be a good man? And what is the value in being one? The Coen Brothers focus their razor-sharp wit at life in the middle-class, where Larry Gopnik, an overwhelmed and befuddled college professor, desperately seeks answers in his Jewish faith for an avalanche of bullshit he suddenly finds himself dealing with at work and home. Joel and Etan’s not-quite-dark comedy is perfect for Michael Stuhlbarg, an excellent character actor who never gets the roles he deserves, who wrings Gopnik for maximum exasperation.

OUT THERE:

“Kung-Fu Hustle” (2005)

Written by Stephen Chow, Huo Xin, Chan Man-keung, Tsang Kan-cheung

Directed by Stephen Chow

Genre: Comedy, Kung-Fu

Stephen Chow electrically cross-breeds wuxia choreography and looney toons antics with “Kung-Fu Hustle,” a 90-minute feud between an axe-wielding mafia and a slum secretly populated by kung-fu masters. Chow plays the main character, a rascally two-bit crook who eventually finds his chi, but the real stars are the never-ending parade of wacky and wily characters who reveal themselves to be powerful warriors. Bruce Leung, one of the many Hong Kong martial-artists who rose in Bruce Lee’s wake, is especially great as “The Beast,” the movie’s final boss who leaps and croaks like a demonic frog. This one’s a blast. KELLY’S PICK:

“Spring Breakers” (2013)

Written by Harmony Korine Directed by Harmony Korine Genre: Crime

Harmony Korine built his career in uncomfortable territory, and his line-toeing style finds its best home yet on the beaches of “spring break.” On paper, he’s using all the same tools as every pop-artist on the planet: former Disney stars cut loose in neon-drenched raves while Skrillex throbs in the background. But Korine perverts the iconography, and the mentality, of “spring break” to expose it for the exploitative sham that it is. James Franco ties it all together as Alien, an obvious riff on Riff-Raff, by letting the audience see the lonely, angsty soul sitting just beneath the surface.

BONUS:

“The Florida Project” (2017)

Written by Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch Directed by Sean Baker Genre: Drama

American poverty is rarely captured with any honesty, typically framed as some folky, humble beginnings for the protagonist to overcome. But being poor in America is brutal and hopeless, and Sean Baker’s film exquisitely captures all the humanity fighting within it. Half of the cast are first-time actors, such as Bria Vinaite (who’s revelatory), and half are venerated screen icons, such as Willem Dafoe (always incredible), but they’re all so authentically blended that you’d never tell the difference. The standout is 7-year-old Brooklynn Prince, who steals your heart as precocious latchkey kid Moonee.

BONUS “COMMUNITY” EPISODE: 

“Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” (Season 2, Episode 14)

“Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” may be the single best half-hour of television ever written. From its expertly deployed jokes to its surprisingly effecting dramatic reveal, “Community” takes a group of people playing make-pretend around a study table and molds it into high art. Director Joe Russo, one half of the Russo Brothers who hit the big-time directing “Avengers” movies, doesn’t let the space become a hindrance. The camera swoops and spins as it brings life to the group’s world building. It’s also just incredibly funny; from Ken Jeong’s not-black-face druid to Donald Glover making us laugh by just saying the name “Neil.” This is peak “Community” and it can’t be missed.