Rize

• Director: David LaChapelle
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Dance
• Movie Type: Jazz & Modern Dance, Race & Ethnicity
• Themes: Dancer's Life, Inner City Blues, Street Gangs
• Main Cast: Tommy the Clown
• Release Year: 2004
• Country: US
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• MPAA Rating: PG13

Plot

Noted photographer David LaChapelle makes his feature directorial debut with this documentary on a new facet of street culture in South Central Los Angeles. In 1992, after long-simmering racial tensions in Los Angeles erupted in riots following the verdicts in the Rodney King trial, a man named Tommy Johnson sought to spread a new message in a new way to the city's African-Americans. Creating a character called Tommy the Clown, Johnson developed an act that combined hip-hop-flavored comedy and dancing with an anti-gang and anti-violence message. Johnson's performances became wildly popular in South Central -- so much so that at one point, 50 different groups inspired by Johnson's example were performing in the area. In time, Johnson's loose-limbed dance style inspired a new wave of hip-hop street dancing called "krumping," a wildly athletic style in which arms, legs, and bodies fly with a frenzied abandon that moves at almost inhuman speeds. Rize follows the birth of clown dancing and krumping in South Central, and records how many young people have adopted the dance as a style of competition, offering a safer and healthier alternative to the gang culture that has long dominated Los Angeles. Rize premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Review

The subject matter of Rize may be familiar to some as the target of a famous South Park parody, or as the central activity in You Got Served, the failed fiction-film treatment of competitive urban dancing (which that classic South Park episode also skewers). But only in the documentary format -- where the moves aren't, nor could they possibly be, choreographed -- can a viewer truly appreciate the whiplash bursts of adrenaline known as krumping. Even those who think they understand the scene may not be aware that this electric form originated, more or less, with a man in clown makeup. Rize not only explains that apparent paradox, but goes far deeper into the surrounding Los Angeles youth culture -- chosen by many as an alternative to gang violence -- than it might need to. Why wouldn't it need to? Because the phenomenon David LaChappelle's film captures is so vibrant, so unpredictable, and so enthrallingly watchable, it would work almost as well with no narrative spine at all. The fascination of watching body parts flail -- in all their incomprehensible, improvisational brilliance -- never dwindles. It is, however, somewhat disappointing that the film closes with a Hollywood-style climax, a dance-off known as Tommy the Clown's Battle Zone. The essence of clowning and krumping is that they channel the emotional landscape of an individual dancer, making them too subjective to be compared qualitatively, and it's often difficult to determine why one side is awarded victory over the other, except for the relative boisterousness of the crowd. Most of this film's viewers won't have that problem, wanting to cheer all the participants in Rize with equal vigor. Not only are they genius performers, but they stand triumphant over other life choices that operate perilously close to their arena. ~ All Movie Guide

Cast

Tommy the Clown; Lil Tommy; Larry; El Nino; Lil C; Tight Eyez; Baby Tight Eyez; Daisy; Ms. Prissy; La Nina; Quinesha; Swoop; Dragon; Big X

Credit

Jack Wesley Sparks - Boom Operator, David LaChapelle - Director, Fernando Villena - Editor, Stavros Merjos - Executive Producer, Ishbel Whitaker - Executive Producer, Ellen Jacobson-Clarke - Executive Producer, Barry Peele - Executive Producer, Rebecca Skinner - Executive Producer, Kelly Baker - Location Manager, Drew Carolan - Line Producer, Scott Kaplan - Line Producer, Coleen Haynes - Line Producer, Walid J. Mouaness - Line Producer, Darryl Pallagio - Lighting, Amy Marie Beauchamp - Composer (Music Score), Jose Cancella - Composer (Music Score), Jonathan McHugh - Musical Direction/Supervision, Nathan Hamilton - Makeup, Linda Sammut - Makeup, Gregory Alt - Makeup, Melanie Glover - Makeup, Brian Lewis - Makeup, Tiffany Johnston - Makeup, Joseph M. Setele - Camera Operator, Sean Hellfritsh - Camera Operator, Leda Maliga - Camera Operator, Sasha Rendulich - Camera Operator, Alzo Slade - Camera Operator, Michael Totten - Camera Operator, Jon Volcek - Camera Operator, Morgan Susser - Cinematographer, Darcy Jennings - Production Manager, David LaChapelle - Producer, Marc Hawker - Producer, Richmond Talauega - Producer, Ellen Jacobson-Clarke - Producer, Tone Talauega - Producer, Timothy West - Sound Mixer, Christopher Aud - Sound Editor, Mark L. Mangino - Sound Editor, Patrick J. Foley - Sound Editor, Bryan Newman - Additional Cinematography, Barry Norwood - Additional Cinematography, Jonathan Sella - Additional Cinematography, Henry Froger - Production Assistant, Lil C - Production Assistant, Bryan "Sunny" Adams - Production Assistant, Jason Anderson - Production Assistant, Kim Anderson - Production Assistant, Monique Barrett - Production Assistant, Maggie Barrios - Production Assistant, James Brown - Production Assistant, Marvin Jackson - Production Assistant, Dori Oskowitz - Production Assistant, Kevin Preston - Production Assistant, Christopher Purnell - Production Assistant, Lance Quarlles - Production Assistant, Brandon Trones - Production Assistant, Jeff Ferraro - Gaffer, Arthur R. Borquez - Grip, Ricky Diaz - Grip, Donovan Davis - Key Grip, William B. Kaplan - Music Editor, Jose Cancella - Musical Performer, Peter Bliss - Musical Performer, Nikki Bottolene - Production Coordinator, Natalie Reubens - Production Coordinator, David Giamarco - Re-Recording Mixer, Gregg Watson - Re-Recording Mixer, Pat A. Foley - Supervising Sound Editor, Christopher Aud - Supervising Sound Editor, Mark L. Mangino - Supervising Sound Editor, Ruth LeFaive - Visual Effects Producer, Haydn Pazanti - Camera Loader, Red Ronin Productions - Featured Music, Sharice Babakhani - Assistant Editor, Steven Friedman - Assistant Editor, Jaime Okubo - Assistant Editor, Sin-Halina Sy - Assistant Editor, Alfredo Rosado - Assistant Camera, Kym Swank - Assistant Camera, Greg Williams - Assistant Camera, Vitor Martins - Special Effects Lighting, Tim Hays - Field Sound Mixer, John Bailor - Field Sound Mixer, Melissa Saris - Field Sound Mixer, Earl McGilun - Field Sound Mixer, Taylor Tosh - Field Sound Mixer, Mat Dennis - Field Sound Mixer, Mark Patino - Field Sound Mixer

Similar Movies

Paris is Burning; C-Walk: It's a Way of Livin'; Krump 2.0: Advanced Techniques; Breakin' vs. Krumpin'; Heart of Krump; Krump Battles; Lil' Homies of Krump; The Hip Hop Project; Planet B-Boy

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