Roxanne Roxanne

I remember exploring Roxanne Shante and the infamous Roxanne wars, since I was still not born by that time, but around BDP conflict with MC Shan. I became quite the hip hop schollar since then, so I was realy excited to see some new biography of maybe nowadays forgoten rapper.

The movie had some amazing, excelent performances - Marshala Ali is simply one of the better actors of this generation, maybe even top 10 at the moment. Every scene he engages in is pure gold from his side. I was surprised, since the main actress was a mystery to me, but her job was well done - she had great charisma, attitude and most of all - diversity in delivering different types of feelings to the audience. The script however was not so good - maybe even the direction, because the story itself is something a viewer could easily get into, but the delivery was just so mediocre, you stop caring about the characters during the movie (even though they are going through hard times, have interesing plots and meet interesting historical people, it just comes out flat and soon to be forgotten). I realy wish this was done better, because it had so much potential to be a stand-alone biopic, different from everything else, but it ended up being same old repetitive tv movie.

As a hip hop head this truly disappointed me. Of course I am aware of the history Roxanne Shante has played. For those who did not know now know, but I felt the story was very weak. The dialogue doesn't grab you by the balls. There is a huge lack of, something. It doesn't feel raw. It doesn't take you back to the 80s, more like a low budget movie. The same feeling I got from The Get Down, although they had a 30 million dollar budget. I also feel that her story alone is not enough to represent Hip Hop alone. There were many other female MCs at that time who started way before Shante who never received the same credit they deserve. If this story is about abuse, a young girl going up in the projects and by ''accident'' becoming a full-time rapper, then overall it could have been told better.

The only thing that redeems this messy film is the superb acting specially from the lead actress Chanté Adams; she made me care about her character and root for her character, although neither the character's background or the struggles that the character went through have been represented well. Also, Mahershala Ali gave an awesome and powerful performance, he steals every scene he's in in this film.

Don't get me wrong it's a bad film but the great acting is what kept me riveted while watching it.

At the first act, the film tries to show me Roxanne Shanté's backstory which should be important but what I got instead are details about minor characters that don't have anything to do with the story but even that it was hard to figure out who's who. Also, there are a lot of in-your-face messages about racism.

The character of Roxanne Shanté's mother is annoyingly stereotyped and the film gave her dramatic scenes which are so corny. The dialogue is so faked and stilted that it ruined some great acted scenes.

There are many important turning points in the plot that are so rushed.

(5/10)

'ROXANNE ROXANNE': Three and a Hals Stars (Out of Five)

A Netflix original drama about a teenage girl in Queens, New York (during the 1980s), who had to fight to provide for her family, and defend herself on the streets, while also becoming a hip-hop legend at the same time (rapper Roxanne Shanté). The movie was written and directed by Michael Larnell (who also performed both duties on 2015's 'CRONIES'). It stars Chanté Adams, Oscar winner Mahershala Ali, Nia Long, Elvis Nolasco, Kevin Phillips and Shenell Edmonds. Forrest Whitaker and Pharrell Williams served as producers, and RZA did the music. The film was released by Netflix through it's streaming site. I found it to be mostly well made, and somewhat involving.

The story begins in the New York Queensbridge Projects, in the early 1980s, when Lolita Gooden (Adams) was just a young teen. She had to struggle to support herself, and her family, and defend herself from predators constantly. Lolita was already a very gifted rapper at that age, that went by the name of Roxanne Shanté, and her musical talents helped her survive on the streets as well. This movie details her rise to fame, as she also struggled just to get by.

The film is another story about a very strong, and talented, young woman, that has to put up with constant sexism, and oppression, but still survives. It's well shot and acted. It's also really depressing, and frustrating at times as well. Obviously it's an inspiring story in the end. I would have liked a little more from the third act though, the film seems to end without a strong emotional climax of any kind. Overall it's a well made movie though.

After watching this movie i cant say that I was left speechless but have to admit that there was definitely some decent acting and a familiar story told from a fresh and unique perspective. Nia Long who was playing the mother of Chante nailed her roll, her acting was really spot on. One could easily see how Mahershala Ali managed to score himself a golden statue. His character was the complete opposite of the one he played in Moonlight where he was the criminal with a golden heart. Here we had a troubled drug dealer who couldn't rise above his dark environment, his huge gangster ego and his selfish needs. And finally Chante gave us a really honest and fresh performance that kept me and my girlfriend watching until the end of the movie. I rate it 7 out of 10 only because i felt that the movie lacked a bit of depth.

All in all i would recommend this movie if you are into biopics.