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Rize (2005)

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27 out of 35 people found the following comment useful :-
In a word, amazing!, 27 June 2005

Author: kjinla_2000 from L.A., CA

I FELT this movie. I understood it on a cellular level. I'm Afrian American, I'm over 50, and I didn't grow up in a neighborhood like these kids. I had ballet lessons, was a Brownie and a Girl Scout, yada, yada, yada. But I FELT this movie. I understood how and why they danced the way they did. I would have liked to know how the Asian clowns/krumpers got started and if they compete in the dance-offs. The same for the white genexer who felt he belonged with the clowns/krumpers. My hope is that some of these kids will find their way into society. Not every producer/director can feel proud of his or her work. This one can.

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27 out of 42 people found the following comment useful :-
Rize will lift your mind and move your spirit, 22 June 2005

Author: IamMovieLover from United States

Tonight I ended up unexpectedly seeing the advance screening of "Rize" today.

My suggestion: When this movie opens on June 24, stop everything and see it at your first opportunity. It is an eye-popping, total delight.

David LaChappel has accomplished a cinematic triumph in filming the true story of the rise of a phenomenal new dance style. The movie is not what you would typically expect. The main characters let you know right away that they have no intention of succumbing to the exploitive commercialization of hip hop with it's guns, violence and persistent misogyny. The filmmaker avoided that tired approach too.

Instead, these amazing young people have invented a way to transform their grief, anger and fears into a vibrant new art form that will make your spirit thump to the beat. They are over-comers who have decided to move beyond surviving to brilliantly thriving against the dire odds of South Central LA.

You will love this story. You will respect these people. You will rave over David LaChappel's stunning, original and immensely entertaining film.

But hey, don't take my word for it. Go and see Rize for yourself. You'll see why Rolling Stone calls this movie "a visual miracle," and why the Sundance crowd was so taken with this movie.

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22 out of 33 people found the following comment useful :-
Austin Movie Show review, 27 June 2005

Author: leilapostgrad from Austin, TX

Before you can understand "krumping" and "clowning," you've got to understand the history and people of South Central Los Angeles. Director David LaChapelle opens his documentary, Rize, with news footage and images from the 1965 Watts riots and the 1992 Rodney King riots. Out of the violence and hate came Tommy the Clown, the hip-hop clown who got kids to stop fighting and start dancing. These "clown groups" gave kids an alternative to gang life. Clown dancing grew, expanded, and evolved into an entirely new form of dance – "krumping." It may look aggressive and violent, but it's pure release, expression, and art. When LaChapelle shows footage of African tribal dancing, one can't help but see the resemblance to "krump" dancing, from the quick and deliberate body movements to the face paint, as if that dancing was in their blood. Rize gives these dancers something the rest of society has long denied them – dignity and respect. See this one.

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13 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
A Beautiful, yet underrated master piece!, 11 July 2005

Author: Freddy Wilson from United States

When I saw the "Rize" trailers at first I was afraid that this would be yet another movie depicting the African-American experience through slanted and distorted filters ignorance and the media would have "White America" and the rest of the world believe. After a few minutes though I found that I couldn't have been more wrong.

"Rize" is a wonderful piece of cinematic gold. It shows us what movies can really accomplish. It shows that what makes a movie "good" isn't a "Big budget" rehash of the same mindless drivel Hollywood has shoved down our throats for the past years. But a movie with substance.

If you have read the other reviews and summaries for this movie me telling you about the "plot" or "characters" is a waste of space. Also If you have read the other reviews you will see that quite a few people believe that "Rize" is just "You got Served" with face paint. People who have written this make me believe that they must have been watching a "spoof" on TV or watching commercials, and coming to there own conclusions.

"You got Served" is to the African-American Dance culture as "From Justin to Kelly" is to musicals. YGS was a the same type of group vs. rival group with "mild" drama of a betrayal of a former member that was depicted in "Bring it On" or "Good Burger" and countless other films for the 12-17 age demographic. It was a film mostly for fans to get a last few glimpses of the former music group B2k and leader of the former group immature (or IMX) together for the last time (sort of like "Spice World"). In this since it served its purpose well.

Knowing this you can see that it would be a "closed minded" and "ignorant" person to even link these two movies together. And my advice to those who choose to do so is: To actually see the movies you choose to harshly critique. You may even find that "One of these movies is not like the other" As one is a documentary and the other a "teen flick". Also I have noticed in reviews previous to mine that the movie "Be cool" is mentioned due to its brief "cameo-esque" snippet of the dance style. "Be Cool" was mentioned to be the first discovery of the dance style. This is simply not true, as ONE of the first showings of this dance style can be credited to Missy Elliot in her music video "I'm really Hot".

Another method of discrediting this movie is by attacking the director for just being "Christina's music video director" or a "photographer". Though I can honestly say that I am nor have ever been a fan of Christina Aguilera's work...I certainly do not hold this against Mr. La'Chappelle because unlike most respected and honored directors who turn a blind eye to movies like this because they aren't "Oscar worthy" he stepped in, and in his own artistic and beautiful way shuns the myths and stereotypes that have plagued the African-American people. (Especially young people residing in urban areas and ghettos for no fault of there own are labeled as "thugs" and "gangsta's" are now being known as "Artists" and "Visionaries" due to them turning back to their roots in Africa).

I hope more movies will come out like this and liberate all races from their own stereotypes.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Truly a wonder of nature, this urban predator, Tommy the Clown and many a story to tell. But it was a rare occasion, such as this, that he did…, 14 January 2006

Author: Michael DeZubiria (miked32@hotmail.com) from Luoyang, China

Primus fans, admittedly not exactly the target audience for this film, will immediately recognize the lyrics above and hopefully get a little kick out of it. People who don't know Primus, probably most of the people who would watch this documentary and read about it, will most likely send me angry e-mails.

I am not the biggest fan of hip-hop, rap, r&b, etc., but I decided to check out this documentary because I recently moved to LA and I appreciate seeing people who take difficult life situations and turn them into something positive, and that is exactly what happens in this movie. All of these kids living in the so called dangerous parts of Los Angeles take their frustration and their fear and channel it into a unique style of dancing, which is often quite a spectacle to behold.

It starts with a man who calls himself Tommy the Clown, who entertains at children's parties much like most other types of clowns, except that he specializes in an amazing dance performance rather than magic tricks and balloon animals, and before long other dancing clown groups are popping up all over the place, mostly staffed by kids and teenagers who otherwise would more than likely get involved in a life of crime.

This is an amazing look into the reality of the lives that these people live, right down to individual dance parties, some of the unwritten social rules of the people who dance together (the styles change so quickly that they can tell who has missed even a single day of dancing), and tragic events that take place in their everyday lives. Even if this is not your style of music or dancing, this documentary is definitely worth a look to see how some people take something so difficult and so bad in their lives and turn it into something good. Truly inspiring.

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
an intense, original, and completely ecstatic trip in both the cultural and aesthetic dimensions, 26 November 2005

Author: permafreez from New York City

Perhaps imperfect as a neatly tied-up documentary statement, the film raises real contentious questions about ethnic stereotypes, youth, sexuality, and art (kudos for that). But from a purely experiential perspective this is an intense, original, and completely ecstatic trip in both the cultural and aesthetic dimensions. Personally I see nothing compromised or shallow about mixing in a healthy dose of gratuitously beautiful, highly stylized photography for the pure raw aesthetic bliss of it. The film is also quite interesting from an anthropological angle in terms of how the documented phenomenon quickly takes root, consumes these good peoples' identities 24-7, organically grows, divides, mutates, rapidly spans generations and groups, sweeps up even infants who intuitively jack right in to the main line, and seems to strongly channel ancient ancestral rites straight into South Central, where it weaves a crazy web of hope and ecstatic optimism through the beleaguered community like beautiful wildflowers in a cracked asphalt lot. I may just have to start wearing my clown outfit to the office in tribute, but I guess I should work on my moves first. For that I suppose I'll just have to wait for the inevitable krumping class at my local gym! :p

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13 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the greatest DANCE movies ever!, 30 June 2005

Author: kzzen from United States

I am sorry, but it is a SIN that this film is not getting more recognition. It literally is one of the greatest movies about the art of dance EVER MADE. I mean, people, this is an awesome film about the ART of movement in its rawest most creative stage and there has never been a film like it.

Please don't miss it.

And also don't miss the Ab soundtrack CD.

The use of music in the film is truly exceptional and not overwhelming.

The documentary style is clever (even if it is a little hazy on detail and maybe stretches a few truths).

And finally, please bring some children to see this so they can see the "other side".

Secret political message of the film: why are we spending money in IRAQ when there is so much need here?

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9 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Textbook for Life, 19 August 2005

Author: Kupotek from United States

We need movies like this. we need to allow ourselves to be touched.

So we can learn to be human beings, people need to learn to be humane to each other. Forget gender, forget color, forget beliefs, we all human underneath, we all drown, we all bleed, we all are scared, we all want to express ourselves, and we all deserve that respect.

Learn to give that to everyone you meet. You might never see them again.

I feel privileged these people shared their lives with me. We can learn so much from what the people in this documentary are sharing with us about community, and culture, and humanity.

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10 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Their Space, My Breath, 30 June 2006
Author: tedg (tedg@FilmsFolded.com) from Virginia Beach

I suppose there will be great numbers of viewers who will come away from this feeling good. The myth of the movie, pounded over and over, is that the art these kids devote themselves to elevates them, saves them. There are copious extra features on the disk where the same plodding testimony is given: these dancers are true and saved because of it.

I came away deeply disturbed. Deeply. Yes, of course I was impressed with the dancing. Well, not the dancing so much in most cases, but the sheer exuberance, energy and commitment these kids have. Its genuine and no one can fail to be swept up. In fact, I have fallen in love with Miss Prissy. Of everyone you see, she's the deepest; you can see her fearlessness, failure to protect herself. She's Janis Joplin in body. She's also not in any extras, those self-celebratory muggings that base a whole life on how each kid was once captured. She's moved on, and good for her.

If you like dance, or you care for performance, or you celebrate openness, or you are simply interested in cultural discovery, you'll be as entranced as I. So you will be similarly disturbed by the elements of this that contrast with this energy.

The main one is that this is a phenomenon that is wrapped around a myth, which happens to be the myth these kids have (partly) spun themselves. The entire complexity of their lives is given a simple shape that demeans them and insults us. They carefully explain things to the white guys from uptown with the camera in fairly articulate terms. Do you think they have that same story among themselves? Possibly they do in times of crises where they can reduce their life to the church or something similarly simple. But look at the dances; these are full, complex beings pretending to each other occasionally and us all the time that they are something simple.

There was a similar film, "Dogtown and the Z-Boys," from a nearby area. It really was pure. It was made by one of the characters in the midst of the trend. The cinematic style was exactly the same as the radical stuff they were doing on the skateboards. It really was honest, not only in what it showed, but what it was. This, "Rize," is only honest in what it shows, and because it is fabricated and assembled as a film in a sort of whitebread fashion, it makes us question much of what we see.

For instance, toward the end is the dance sequence that made me fall in love with Miss Prissy. A still from it is on the cover of the DVD. It isn't a spontaneous gathering the camera happens upon, it is something carefully constructed for us. Oiled black bodies, splashed water flying in the sunlight. Engineered lighting. Camera placed low with a restricted frame, which means the dancers need to arrange themselves carefully for the effect. Prissy's hair has clearly had some attention other than what we've seen before. The dance moves are terrific, hypnotizing, but quite different than what we've seen before.

This is a show for the camera, designed, not found. The fact that it is what sticks in my mind is what is so disturbing. All that went before with Miss Prissy was to establish her genuiness so that I could appreciate her in this somewhat ungenuine scene. The realization startles; it's a bit like "The Gods Must be Crazy," where the charm of the thing is seeing a simple bushman BE a simple bushman, until you learn that being in that film as a pretend version of himself drove him to suicide.

Though much of it is endearing, some of it is not good dance. Some of it is primitive belligerence, not much different than the gang culture that surrounds them. Some of the dance that seems good is so only because of the editing and the music - that music is ALWAYS added in during editing and is not what they actually danced to. So you hear and see something different than the random, uneven and grunting way it was.

The trick in these things is that you have to know who you are in the story, where you sit as viewer. I don't like the way I'm placed by the filmmaker, as someone whose acceptance of their homegrown art makes them "rise." And I'm not sure I like any of the other alternatives either. So it disturbs when I like what I see but the filmmaker hasn't given me a place, or a way to make a place.

About the dance. I am not a dancer, a watcher instead. For me, dance is deep. Sex is a simple dance, and the fuller dance expands that to the way the body touches everything around it. Dance is how your skin touches the world, my world, the space I rub against.

Some dance is constructive, it shapes space and creates small, turbulent structures that we step into. Nuryeyev.

This is different. These kids grab space, they reach deep into it and swim it closer to them. They expand, their skin dissolving into a blur that partly overlaps the space I call my own. They invade, and it is welcome. Not all of it, but some is. That shared vision that is a movement that is the tingle of living that is the knowing of body.

But, those are just words; I am in love. Prissy, call me.

Ted's evaluation: 3 of 3, worth watching

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5 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Why does everyone love Rize?, 15 July 2005

Author: littlepirate from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I can tell I'm in the minority here, but I was really aggravated after seeing Rize. I was very excited to see the film after hearing so much about the dancing itself and the social impact of clowning and krumping on kids' lives in L.A. I feel like what could have been a very interesting, enlightening film about inner city youth culture turned out to be little more than a poorly cobbled together mish-mash with flashy flourishes that took away from any resounding impact the film could have had. The film had very little idea of narrative flow and jumped around from point to point haphazardly throughout, but especially towards the end which just about falls apart. In Rize, David LaChappelle criticizes contemporary hip-hop for it's exploitative hyper-sexual consumerism, but then proceeds to spend an excruciatingly long stretch of film showcasing close-ups of the glistening Krumpers greased-up bodies in slow-motion. This sequence is reminiscent of countless commercial hip-hop music videos. The point that Clowning and Krumping is the antithesis to this world is undercut by LaChappelle's desire to make Krumping into some kind of Inner City Abercrombie and Fitch commercial. Given LaChappelle's professional background as a visually talented, but intellectually vacuous photographer, I'm personally surprised that anything socially resonant came from this film. I'm apt to attribute any of the considerable energy and vitality in this film to the dancers, their lives, their strength, and their intelligence.

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