There was a small, but strong buzz surrounding Hustle & Flow, and the performance of Terrence Howard as the pimp with an aching to make it as a hip-hop star, well before Three 6 Mafia injected some life into this year’s Oscars with their acceptance of the award for best song, “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp.” The song was a shoo-in despite its unsavory subject matter because (a) its two competitors were lackluster, and (b) the film so effectively invests us in the struggle of its characters to create the song and make it a hit.
Not since watching Charles Kiselyak’s documentary about John Cassavetes, A Constant Forge (2000), can I recall a film that so infectiously celebrates the creative process and its attendant struggles and rewards. Indeed, Howard’s performance as Djay is very good (although I found some of his spoken vocal inflections distracting), but so are the supporting players, most notably Taraji Henson as Shug, through whom we also see the redemptive qualities of both creativity and human investment. The film is also effective in destroying any notions we may have about the flashy lifestyle of pimps and prostitution. Having spent my first year of law practice as a prosecutor in some of the poorest areas of Chicago, this was no revelation for me.
Here are this morning’s Oscar-nominated films, alphabetically. The nominees for foreign language film and documentary feature are compiled at the end of the list. (Short format nominees are listed in a 
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet... Leave one in the space below.
Leave a Comment