Anne B. Real

I think that this film being on IMDb's Bottom 100 list of the lowest rated films of all time is a bit sad. Sure, it's NOT a good movie but it's not quite that bad. I might put it in the Bottom 500 if they had such a list.

This is a story about a teenage girl who loves to write rap songs and sulk. Her family situation is pretty bad--with a drug abusing brother (who she lets walk all over her) and a sister with a baby. There's more to the story than this, but frankly I didn't care much for any of the characters and had a hard time caring when a particular teacher of the girl tried hard to encourage her to go to college and pursue her dreams.

The biggest single problem about the movie is that the characters are unappealing. While you are supposed to care about Cynthia, her semi-catatonic character was not particularly endearing. In addition, no one around her was particularly interesting. While a few story elements were good (such as the theft of her music), you just didn't care. It also didn't help that the film was so slow-paced and the characters behaved rather stupidly.

The second problem is that there is a tie-in between this character and Anne Frank--a completely ridiculous thing to say the least! Anne frequently reads the writings of Frank and it almost seems, at times, that the film makers are trying to almost make a sort of moral or situational equivalence between the two! Offensive, yes. Dumb, oh yes.

Perhaps this film might mean more to some others--particularly inner city teens (in particular Hispanics and lovers of hip-hop). But for this 45 year-old White guy, there wasn't much appeal. Actually, while I think about it, my 19 year-old also disliked the film...as did all those who rated it so poorly. Wow...perhaps this film ISN'T for much of anybody.

By the way, the film seems to have a lot of very, very poor reviews as well as some that give it a ten. While perhaps the ones were a bit too low, the tens would imply that this is a perfect or near perfect film--which it clearly is not. While I could understand someone liking the film, the characters needed work and the film lacked focus at times.

First of all, I should mention I'm 49 years old and white and don't care for rap music.

But this appeared to be a quality production, with important lessons, positive messages, good writing and good acting. Just don't get too attached to anyone because in this neighborhood, you can't be sure anyone will survive to the end.

Cynthia's father was a dedicated teacher at an aging New York City high school in a bad section of the city. When she was young, he gave her Anne Frank's famous diary to read.

Now Cynthia is a student at that high school. Her father is deceased and her family is on welfare. They include Cynthia, her mother, her grandmother, her brother Juan, her sister Janet, and Janet's baby. Cynthia's mother is Latina and doesn't look black. I'm not clear on her father's racial background but he had a Spanish-sounding name. Anyway, Cynthia looks black and thinks of herself as black.

Several teachers at the school, particularly Michael, believe that at least some of these kids can be reached, despite what the neighborhood is like. Cynthia is one of them, though she has had difficulty since her father's death. But reading about Anne Frank has inspired her and she now writes rap lyrics inspired by Anne. As "Anne B. Real", she raps in front of a mirror. In the same mirror she imagines people she knows criticizing her.

Meanwhile, Juan supposedly has had a job, but the only way he seems to make money is by selling lyrics to up-and-coming rapper Deuce. Deuce wants to impress those who can make him a star, so he claims the lyrics are his own. Of course, so does Juan--who, by the way, uses too much of his money to buy drugs, and gets into situations that could put him behind bars.

Cynthia's friends include Kitty, who looks very white but is more street in her speech than most of the movie's characters. She could be considered comic relief. There is also Jerome, who has been on his own since age 12, and he has to get by delivering drugs. Darius is a very European-looking Latino who seems to want a romantic relationship with Cynthia.

Deuce has a girlfriend who is quite pretty and thinks she is "all that". I didn't catch her name but she adds a lot.

The stories of Deuce and Cynthia are interesting, and both characters have a lot of determination, but Cynthia is the strongest character here. She needs to be strong, too, because she will be put through a lot (so will the audience), and JNyce is quite effective.

But despite this movie taking me out of my comfort zone, I think it was a worthwhile experience.

Take a bunch of amateur wanna-be actors and shoots them with Dad's camcorder.

Take the resulting "brilliant" footage and slap it together on the home computer and you get Anne B. Real.

Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against people getting experience by making a feature-length project

I do have a problem, however, with hyping it as if it were a real movie when in fact it is a painful-to-watch home video that you would only sit still for if it were made by your family.

In other words, avoid at all costs.

I really enjoyed this film. Though the title is misleading, i can recognize what the title was trying to accomplish. The influence of Anne Frank's Diary has never been so eloquently shown. By applying the diary to the life of an inner-city young adult is to put the past into the future. Carlos Leon and Ja Nice Richardson did wonderful jobs and i am upset that she has been in few other films. She puts the watcher in the mind of Michelle Rodriguez from Girl Fight and Fast and the Furious.

Ja Nice's character is somewhat weak through out the whole film in my opinion and could have gained her strength much earlier in the film. Aside from that the film has a strong storyline and good basic message.

What i enjoyed the most in this film was all of the music. being a HUGE fan of underground hip-hop i EASILY recognized many of the songs. I also appreciated the fact that music from the West Coast in a New York based film. Kudos to the music director.

Stuntwoman and first-time director Lisa France has somehow created an F-word-'free' rap move that works! If you want profanity, just re-rent "8 Mile," but if you'd like to see a highly original rap movie then this is the one to check out. How often do you get to see movies about impoverished teens using historical literature to translate their feelings to others, as well as to fuel their customary outlets of creativity - in this case rap.

You can guess how it all ends up but this is still an effective drama and with its mild language a definite must-see for family viewing as well as young aspiring rappers. Literature and rap - who'd a thunk it?