Malcolm (Shameik Moore) is a geeky black high school senior living in suburban LA with his single mother. Obsessed with '90s hip hop and punk rock, he plays in a garage band with his two best friends, Diggy (Kiersey Clemons) and Jib (Tony Revolori). The object of his affections is feisty but loving Nikki (Zoe Kravitz), from whom he learns how intimacy works, and why it's meaningful. It's all going okay, until he and the gang accidentally intercept a gun and two bags of marijuana at school, not knowing who from. Now the local 'hood gangs hit the scene to retrieve what's theirs, and Malcolm's pubescent navigations and college aspirations are respectively put on hold and in jeopardy.
Dope deservedly closed the 2015 Cannes Film Festival's Directors Fortnight for writer-director Rick Famuyiwa, whose vision for this coming-of-age dramedy is like Boyz N the Hood meets a modern-day Dazed and Confused. It makes Dope a thoroughly original, wise and entertaining entry in the genre, and it does resonate beyond racial lines. Malcolm is an endearingly awkward, bookish boy who still somehow doesn't act white or feel like a Steve Urkel clone, and Shameik Moore's performance is smartly observed. Also, Kravitz shows she's a much better actor than her father (stick to the tunes, Lenny) and Revolori (aka the bellboy from The Grand Budapest Hotel) gives a very funny and layered turn.
But most importantly, Dope reinforces timely questions of race (and even class relations), both profound and thought-provoking, and never in a pontificating way. And even in these moments, it absolutely exudes a coolness, charm and swagger all of its own.
No comments:
Post a Comment