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Dre is about to be married to a beautiful girl. But, sometimes, I still get very much in the mood to listen to hip hop; I still try to keep track of who's who and what's what. It's romantic as hell, and told with intelligence and warmth and humor. It's one disc, one side with the widescreen, the flipside with the full screen. Times columnist, but now has moved back to New York as an influential magazine editor. That there's even a movie like BROWN SUGAR around today is a testament to hip hop's popularity and longevity. Queen Latifah as Sidney's outgoing best friend and Mos Def as a laid back cabbie/emcee add solid support. Me, I grew up in the '80s, listening to what's referred to nowadays as old school hip hop.
I really like this movie. and Rakim had made an appearance (Rakim, to this day, is still my favorite emcee). Dre Ellis is a record label executive, and he's sold out a bit, bartering some of his ideals about hip hop for upward mobility and that good old green. But if you love hip hop or even if you just have a nodding acquaintance with it, then you'll get so much more from the movie.
And how very wrong, the doubters and the haters. And when Sidney professes her love for hip hop, the subtext is clear enough. He's still best friends with Sidney. Dude is a sublime hip hop artist and so natural as an actor (Something the Lord Made, The Italian Job (Special Collector's Edition)). Just keep an ear out for Mos and Taye's priceless conversation about Humphrey Bogart and Casablanca and walking off into the fog. Particularly telling was Sidney's equating the "union of hip-hop to the mainstream" to Dre's wedding to his vanilla-type girlfriend Reese. Mos Def, to me, can do no wrong.
I still bug out to Rakim's "I Know You Got Soul" and KRS-One's "My Philosophy." BROWN SUGAR is a wonderful love story, yep. So I can definitely get with the opening sequence, which features real-life hip hop luminaries being interviewed and divulging their musical inspirations. And hip hop is not about to slow its roll. Well-respected magazine editor Sidney Shaw's first question in her interviews is always: "When did you fall in love with hip hop." This not only reveals Sidney's deep, abiding ardor for this music genre but as well the underlying theme of the movie. This is chemistry at its best. Metaphors, now. Together, they create a very personal space, a cozy comfort level.
Now Sidney and Dre are grown up, nearing thirty and successful in their careers. 2002's BROWN SUGAR works just fine as a romantic film, and it's cool if you relish it solely for that. Whenever Sanaa and Taye are in the same scene, everyone else seems to fade away. But it's also a sincere valentine to a mean street musical artform which was triviliazed by most and, in its infancy, not given any sort of chance to grow and thrive. Mos adds huge depth and credibility to this film; and he even performs on stage in it.
Queen Latifah, as most folks know, used to be a strong emcee herself, before devoting her career to film acting. I'd say that hip hop is more an off-and-on girlfriend. BROWN SUGAR and LOVE & BASKETBALL simply make good bookend movies. In Sidney's voice-overs, she often presents a parallel between hip hop and her best friend Dre. She's never lost her integrity.
The plot gets going from there. Bonus features include: commentary by the director and the film editor (with the director's tendency to chuckle a lot getting to be this side of annoying); four deleted scenes with optional commentary (the scene "Poppin' in the Park," which shouldn't have been cut out, is terrific for Lathan and Diggs's cute pop-locking and their discourse on who the best emcees and djs are); two great music videos: Erykah Badu's "Love Of My Life" (featuring Common and MC Lyte) and Mos Def's "Brown Sugar" (featuring Faith Evans); and, of course, the theatrical trailer. Taye Diggs' magnetic presence and playful personality. Sidney was an L.A. Sidney and Dre would grow up as lifelong friends, with their passion for hip hop inspiring them in their life choices and serving to keep them tightly connected. How she herself fell in love with hip hop is established in a flashback set in 1984 in the boogie-down Bronx, as young Sidney and a little boy named Dre witness legendary rappers Dana Dane, Slick Rick, and Doug E. This is done in a way which is interesting and insightful and heartfelt, and I really enjoyed this storytelling device. When Dre, in starting his own label, looks to sign Mos Def's character, he couldn't have found someone who embodied real hip hop more.
The cast clicks. And, sorry, but I can't help but compare it to the amazing Love and Basketball (New Line Platinum Series), partly because of the shared themes - with the friendship-into-romance arc being the most salient - and partly because both films star the luminous Sanaa Lathan. I've been listening to these cats from the get-go (Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, De La Soul, etc)., and to set eyes on them in this flick, well, it's a very cool thing. Fresh engaged in a rhyming battle. Mos's scenes with Diggs and Queen Latifah are fabulous.
I also listen to other stuff, so as much as I love hip hop, I don't know that I'd call it the love of my life. I just wish Erik B. Enjoyment of this film doesn't hinge on how much you dig hip hop music or how deep or how far back your history with hip hop goes. Lathan's natural beauty, combination of strength and vulnerability, and marvelously grounded acting.
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He's good but not entirely believable as a record exec. Overall I am glad I added this disc to my collection because I'd rather see different aspects of "Black love" portrayed than "black on black crimes" on the big screen. Initially I thought I was seeing a film about two people who'd grown up loving hip hop, had careers related to hip hop and then fell in love but as the movie went on, I realized that their relationship & the evolution of hip hop were one & the same. BORIS KODJOE - always gorgeous to look at, he is good as the self-absorbed baller. SANAA LATHAN is again terrific as the everywoman. Since others have detailed the movie plot, I just wanted to add my two cents regarding likes & dislikes.
Dislikes. I believe her as the confident editor of a hip hop magazine and I believe her as a young confused woman who realizes that she is in love with her best friend. CHEMISTRY - there was no romantic chemistry between the two leads, Sanaa & Taye which made their storyline of the least interest to me. (His drunk behavior at the Holiday party always cracks me up).
QUEEN LATIFAH & MOS DEF - scene stealers, both are fantastic in their supporting roles. I think she's such a good actress because in all of her films, she makes me FEEL her character's emotions. Likes:.
I love seeing movies with attractive African American actors playing upwardly mobile responsible adults. It was also a clever twist to use hip hop as a metaphor for the lead characters life long relationship and I truly didn't feel like they beat me over the head with the comparisons. THE EXTRAS - although I would have liked a short series of interviews with the cast regarding their true feelings about hip hop - how it's influenced them, "when they first fell in love with hip hop", etc; the deleted scenes along with the director's commentary was interesting & the videos were a treat.
TAYE DIGGS - he is not one of my favorite actors so it took a lot for me to accept him in this role. I agree with a previous reviewer that this is one of those movies that I gladly supported by seeing 3 times upon its release because it's a love story as opposed to a gang-banging, drug related shoot em up.
NICOLE ARI PARKER - ever fabulous as the bride who slowly realizes that she doesn't really know the man she's married.
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