Life Is Hot in Cracktown

A drama about living in the inner city, where crack and prostitution reign. Some say it is too dark, but it's real and dark is what this life is all about.

Waking up with cockroaches running across your face, and having nothing more than a cracker for breakfast, would make anyone despair.

The film features pre-op transsexual Marybeth (Kerry Washington) and her boyfriend Benny (Desmond Harrington), Manny (Victor Rasuk) who works two jobs to support his wife (Shannyn Sossamon) and baby, street kids Willy (Ridge Canipe) and Suzie (Ariel Winter) and gang member Romeo (Evan Ross). Among the other recognizable faces are Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Illeana Douglas (Otis), Lara Flynn Boyle (Land of the Blind), Vondie Curtis-Hall (The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans), Mark Webber (The Laramie Project), RZA (American Gangster), Carly Pope (Young People F*cking), Thomas Ian Nicholas (American Pie, Pie 2, Wedding) and Tony Plana (Slayer).

If you like poverty-porn, then you will find four good stories and lots of familiar actors in this film.

As a fan of writer/director Buddy Giovanno's bleak low budget horror classic Combat Shock, I sought out this film looking for more of his work. While Life Is Hot... is a drama and Combat Shock is a tweeked out horror film, they do share some similarities. Both films are bleak, depressing and urban. Like Crash this movie links together various characters from this story. However all of these characters all live in the same neighborhood and each has their own set of problems. Buddy humanizes these undesirables and shows many different sides to their everyday existence. The most sympathetic characters in this picture are Marybeth and Benny , a pre op transsexual streetwalker hooker and her hood burglar boyfriend. The least likable of the bunch is Romeo, a ruthless gangbanger on borrowed time. While this little indie film won't appeal to much of a mainstream audience, it has a lot more substance than some of those films that draw people in droves and do huge business. Life Is Hot in Cracktown shows the dark underbelly of urban America in a new light and fresh perspective. Anyone can fall on hard times and the film shows the hopelessness and misery that is a harsh reality for many people. The film is gritty and uncompromising and very real in its approach and vision. Performances are excellent as well. For me the film is a humbling experience. I am thankful that I did not grow up in this environment and that I did'nt have to shake the roaches from my clothing, then go out and hustle so me and my kid sister can eat.

I'm gonna have to eat some crow here, especially after complaining about the last film I reviewed, SHADOWHEART. Both it and this one – LIFE IS HOT IN CRACKTOWN – came to me via Amazon's Vine Program. And I was becoming rather tired of the careless films that tended to populate The Vine's DVD list. Well, Life Is Hot In Cracktown has reformed me ...somewhat. It isn't great. It isn't stupendous. But it is gritty, real, and put together in a way that made it extremely watchable.

All of these characters are well-rounded and exceptionally well acted. There will be someone that every watcher will be able to connect with. Whether it's the young boy looking after his younger sister as his mother and her boyfriend get high and leave them alone for days, or the pre-op transsexual Marybeth (Kerry Washington, THE LAST KING OF Scotland) and her emotionally labile boyfriend Benny, or Manny, the guy working two jobs trying to support his wife Concetta (Shannyn Sossaman, WRISTCUTTERS) and their colicky baby, or the gang-banger Romeo who's life on the street is turning him into a dangerous individual, there's someone here for everyone.

The interest comes in the fact that you watch most of these people make horrible decisions or do terrible things, yet you cannot look away or even condemn them. They are the best and worst of us all, and it shows a rugged side of humanity that most of us would rather not see ...except to realize that one of these people might have been you had you not had a few breaks. It's frightening and enlightening.

The best part of the film is toward the end as we watch each person forced to make a decision and wonder at what the outcome will be. It is a turning point in their lives and we are given front row seats to it. Amazing how it all came together.

Watching the special features, I have to disagree with Kerry Washington's comment about transsexuals never being shown on film in any meaningful way. The film TRANSAMERICA focused specifically on this subject and was a fantastic film. Just FYI, Kerry.

Anyway, this film is actually quite good, even though I found the title a bit unfortunate.

With this being the FIRST movie review i've done, i couldn't have picked a harder movie to summarize.. If you've seen Buddy Giovinazzo's 1986 street slime suicide epic "Combat Shock", than you'll know what to expect.. A perfectly made film thats downbeat and depressing, a Drama that can pass for horror And characters that you are supposed to hate, but can't.. The only difference here is that instead of the gritty 80's look this film has a nice pop-polished feel (and more characters to feel bad for)

The movie basically follows four groups of characters in their day to day struggles in a drug/hooker infested neighborhood (Not unlike Hollywood). There's Marybeth (Kerry Washington) and Benny (Desmond Harrington) who roam the streets looking for johns. Marybeth is a Transsexual who's trying to save money for her sex change by giving head to old filthy tricks and at the same time supporting her loser boyfriends (bennys) drug habit. Benny's trade is a burglar, but his drug problem and age has made it difficult to pull anything off without F**king it up. Then There's Willy (Ridge Canipe) A pre-teen who, like all kids in these neighborhoods has no future. He wakes up to cockroachs running across his face, hangs out with the Junkie outside his welfare building (Brandon Routh), Has a crush on a local hooker named "Melody" (Elena Franklin) who's roughly the same age as he is.. He also has to watch after his little sister while his Mom (Illeana Douglas) and her abusive boyfriend smoke rock.. Romeo (Evan Ross) is the neighborhood punk who roams the streets terrorizing people, extorting and brutally beating down the elderly for their welfare checks, raping, robbing, killing.. People may think his character is an exaggeration of a street punk, but there are HUNDREDS of "Romeos" in every city.. The kids that were number one on the football team 2 years ago, now sell crack and aspire to live out the "Scarface" life. Then There's the people in the neighborhood who are trying to make a life for themselves, but they are too naive to realise that it will NEVER happen.. Manny (Victor Rasuk) works two jobs.. A Day job at the local Liquor Store and a Security job at the welfare apartments (were Willy Resides). He and his wife Concetta (Shannyn Sossamon) live in squalor and have a newborn son who NEVER STOPS CRYING (Kinda reminiscent of Frankies 'Agent Orange" Baby in "Combat Shock"). Of all the people in the neighborhood (that we see) he is the only one trying to make a better life for himself and his family, but in the end not even THREE jobs can help. (you just have to LEAVE!!)

Of the four of us that went to the film i think i was the only one who really loved it.. My Girlfriend (who's favorite film is "Bloodsucking Freaks")said that it was too dark. My two other friends liked it, and one friend actually sparked his stem about half way through.. The truth is, we all grew up in a neighborhood just like the one shown in the film. Its hard to watch "Hollywood" almost Glorify and Exploit this reality for rich snobby dick heads to watch and try to analyze.. (Its basically Hollywood Exploiting ITSELF!) I've been in willy's shoes and the reality is that no matter how innocent he seems in the film, eventually he will grow up to be a junkie, thief or dealer (or all three) Some people finally realise that it would be easier to just LEAVE the neighborhood and move to the suburbs. You'd still have to struggle, BUT after everything you've already dealt with, moving would be a walk in the park. HOPEFULLY some Crackheads out there will see this film and realise that they should NEVER have kids! Maybe they will see that this life is a vicious cycle that they will pass on to their kids and they'll grow up to be our future addicts and hookers OR WORSE, They'll become the future "Romeos". Too many kids in the city end up like him. In a neighborhood full of druggies you realise that the only REAL job out there is to actually supply these drugs to these losers. When your Mom and Dad cant pay the rent and your able to hustle $1000 A DAY selling crack and heroin you feel like a success. Thats the trap. Only 1 in 10 will be able to stay off the drugs they sell, and only 1 in 10 will save that money and move to Riverside and get a job selling DVD's and VHS tapes on Amazon :) Anyways, this is my first movie review to a movie that still doesn't have a review. (now i'll try to sound like everyone else) The movie had GREAT direction, excellent acting from an excellent ensemble cast and it will give you a realistic look into the streets! I heard somebody say this film was like "Short Cuts on Drugs". That sums it up nice, except there isn't some stupid earthquake. Unlike "Short Cuts" this movie has a realistic ending. Good job Buddy G!! Hopefully you'll adapt some of your other books to film. Then you'll have my SECOND review ever!

Well, let's see. where do i start? If you listen to the negative reviews one might think this is a bad film.........when in fact, it is a very good movie......the only people that I can think of that might not have liked it may be crack dealers. If anyone wants to know what it might be like to use, sell, or have association with crack even without one's desire to; they should see this film. Crack life truly is dangerous, frenetic, unhealthy, and it twists people's relationships with each other; and yes, there can be cruelty, and mindlessness; rarely is there any lasting kindness. The people in the story are, by the nature of their involvement egocentric and self-centered of course; all using addicts are. It is the nature of the beast.

Someone said the characters didn't show any humanity. I didn't get that at all. I thought the authors demonstrated quite ably how their humanity was being destroyed by their addictions and their environment.

Some others criticized the fact that only the white characters were redeemed. I wonder if they actually watched the film? or that all the crack dealers were black; all the crack dealers were NOT black actually. The actual ethnic make-up of the population of crack dealers, while sad, is irrelevant and anyone who focused on that missed the point. In actuality the most important fact about the make-up of crack dealers is that they were originally poor and came from terribly corrupted neighborhoods.

Some reviewers claimed it was unrealistic because the transsexuals were too pretty; well. They weren't all too pretty, if they watched the film. I have to wonder if some of the people who judge the realism of a film from their personal life experience really have the experience they think they do. There is a vast difference between what one imagines, what one reads, what one hears, other films people think are realistic because they want them to be and real life experience. So. Be careful with their critical advice when it is clear they are having an episode of fantasy about their real life. Someone else complained about casting.......i can't imagine how hard it must be to cast any film but i would like to offer that compared to say, the new version of Pelham 123 for instance, this film is brilliantly cast.

One thing I think bothers me more than anything with this particular venue, by the way, is the strong possibility that some of these more ridiculous negative reviews may come from people who may have some vested interest in bad mouthing a particular piece of work because they are the competition, a jilted lover, a disgruntled former employee, an un-hired employee, or the multitude of other bad reasons people say terrible things about good efforts; sadly, it is just a part of human nature. Human nature, at it's worst, as demonstrated by some of the characters in this film.........maybe some who had such personal problems with this film see themselves too closely paralleled with some of the characters.

Anyway, I thought it was quite realistic, possibly a little too sanitized but it really isn't necessary to overwhelm an audience with too much of the horror of violence in respect to the characters situations to get the messages of this film across.

The best thing to do is see it for yourselves and make up your own mind........please bear in mind; I have no vested interest involved in this review as I have never worked in "Hollywood" or any other related occupation.