Blue Hill - Nasce uma Gangue

Had the opportunity to see this movie at a free screening. So, that being said that I saw this for free, I thought the movie was okay. It was somewhat predictable, but still worth while. It's basically a movie about 4 childhood friends who get caught up in the drug game. They started off small time marijuana dealers and grow up to be the biggest coke dealers on Blue Hill Avenue.

The movie starts at the end, and then flashes back to their childhood. And it progresses on from childhood, back to where the movie started, and on from there. It's almost a typical drug/gangster movie. Except, the ending lacks character development and it doesn't explain why things happened the way they did. Also, there are scenes in the movie which are supposed to be serious, but somehow, they are hilarious.

And, for some reason, although I have my complaints about this movie, it's a good movie to have discussions about. I wish I could've taken more people with me to this screening, because I found myself talking about this movie days after I watched it.

So, even with its' flaws, when and if this movie ever comes to a theater near you, go see it, you'll at least laugh at the silliness that happens throughout!

And the actors really did a great job! It was great seeing Brandon Hammond (Ahmad from the movie Soul Food) in this movie, he did a great job.

I'll explain my One line Summary but let me start by saying... I thought this movie was okay, because it didn't glamorize the life of a drug dealer. If you noticed, Tristan (Allen Payne) had that worried look on his face from the moment of all their wrong doings. LOL. Although, it didn't depict how two children raised in a middle-class home got sucked into the drug game....meaning Tristan as a dealer and his sister as an addict... but life itself is unpredictable. And so is CRACK...Altogether it was played out gracefully.

One flaw to me....was the way it ended, so cheesy after such a well thought out plot...but this is explained in the DVD director's scenes ...that there was only 20-something 11HR days to actually shoot film....But....there was at least one woman in the film that in some way to each character...was responsible for them ending up the way they were. Drug dealers. At first I thought, I am glad this film is not making excuses for them as to why.....they were poor (so is the rest of the world) and etc..but when I looked deeper...cause some of the issues in this film are DEEP.... i STARTED THINKING....he is casting blame on someone....WOMEN. From grandmomma, momma, girlfriend and wife. All the women in any man's life. Is it me, or did anyone else get that...?? Tristan's girlfriend who vowed not to get involved with a drug dealer.....did not only that, but married him.

The grandmother who cared enough about E-Bone (William L. Johnson)...to spoon-feed his butt when he was beaten up by those hoodlums ...came off like such a women-hater. He actually told her to her face that she failed him in the deleted scenes. And did he say "Nobody cared about him?"... I really wondered why E-bone was so angry...or how his mother died.....but was certainly glad that, THAT scene was cut from the actual film...it was filled w/ too much disrespect. We certainly don't want our grandchildren or children for that matter telling the grandmothers who didn't want them to go to a foster home and decided to try to raise them although old-fashioned, into a productive members to society. But that she failed because wasn't YOUNG enough !!! And on screen he displays his distaste w/ women by referring to even Tristan's wife as "bi..h" Uh....I smell a pattern. Mr. Carl Ross, Jr. ...Do you have something you want to say to us women, damn. To your mother. To your grandmother. To your wife. To your sister. Let's not forget Benny's (Clarence Thomas III) double-crossing two-timing girlfriend. Even Simon's mom was revealed to be a "hoe" and was still sleeping w/ his pimp daddy, but never bothered to tell him that the neighborhood thug was his daddy.....who was always under his nose.....Now what Pimp Father does to Simon, in the film was a very "gotcha" moment for me. Although you figure it out when watching cuz you gave us a clue in the beginning. This isn't necessary because the audience is not stupid.

In my experience as a once-aspiring actress....in the words of Uta Hagen...it was said: Acting is THINK AND NOT WHAT YOU DO....well in addition to that, as an audience we are there to watch...so lay-off a little on the narration and one too many clues...but still very nicely written. I liked the twists. Especially between Tristan and wife. I was fooled a little too and the way they finally "set-it-straight"...was also nicely written. The ending stunk though, I reiterate. Stunk very badly. William L. Johnson who played E-BONE was cast off too quickly and let's not forget how the girlfriend was discarded so non-chalantly. She thought she was a key player.....She even said so in the Trailer interviews on the DVD. LOL. And the survivor, was too smug after having his entire life, altered...won't give too much away....but watch how smug he is.....Although he broke down up the street....maybe he should have broken down in his woman's arms.... I know all roles for women can't be uplifting..cuz we do have some mommas who just are not there for their growing children but we wives re-raise some of these street punks or inspire them to be what they should have been....but I can suspend my disbelief and say again, Carl Ross, Jr. I liked the film And I am going to Netflix for more independent films to see if I can get more of your movies. ..but let me leave with this thought that when a boy grows to a man and decides to become a drug dealer, low-life, jail-bird...a film director or producer ....it is not all his momma's fault. Maybe its his daddy's.....

I believe that there is an industry-wide conspiracy to deny theatrical access for independent films, particularly those with multi-cultural casts and themes. Blue Hill Ave. reinforces this suspicion in my mind. Of course, I've seen better movies, but I've certainly seen much worse movies in theatrical release and I cannot believe that Blue Hill Ave. could not merit at least a moderate theatrical release on about 500 screens. I would have certainly paid $8 to see this film rather than to see "Soul Plane", "You Got Served", "Baby's Daddy", etc. Perhaps the Justice Dept. needs to step up their investigation into the anti-competitive practices of the mega conglomerate-owned film production and distribution entities. This was supposed to have been resolved in U.S. v Patamount back in 1948! Anyway, I digress. I though Craig Ross, Jr. and his cast and crew did an exceptional job with this film, especially on such a low budget!

If films like Cappuccino (an earlier quality film from this same writer/director) and Blue Hill Ave. can't make it to theaters and the previously mentioned vapid works are able to, why should intelligent Black folks pay $8. at the theater? I hope Mr. Ross' investors were able to profit on this one!

This was one of those films that came across like an attempt to create a "respectable" Black gangster film, but falls somewhere short of the mark. Centering around the drug-dealing activities of a group of childhood friends, led by "Tristan" (Allen Payne), the film fails to adequately show how Payne's character evolved into such a materialistic and brutal drug lord. Reared in what is portrayed as a happy, loving, two-parent, middle-class family, Tristan suddenly emerges as an adolescent--barely out of puberty--capable of blowing the head off of anyone who would thwart his drug-dealing enterprises. The neighborhood drug kingpin "Benny" (Clarence Williams III), who initially invited these young boys into his fold, becomes engaged in a battle for turf with his former protégés when they reach adulthood. Only Tristan, the story's protagonist, survives and leaves the drug business after having discovered that his drug-addicted younger sister is in the hospital struggling for life after having consumed an overdose of crack cocaine, the very substance with which he has built an empire.

This film is action-packed & filled with plot twists (too many), and should be a hit with a significant portion of the twenty-something-and-under audience, mainly those accustomed to heavy doses of film violence. Yet many viewers may find something almost comical, and probably disturbing, about the inexplicable personality traits of the character Tristan (Allen Payne) and the seedy and aging Benny (Clarence Williams III). Additionally, viewers familiar with Blaxploitation-era films will notice that this feature seemed to lean heavily on the film-industry-demanded formula for Black films of the 1970s, which portrayed most Black female characters as weak &/or morally deficient &/or expendable (Pam Grier excluded). There are no well-defined female characters in this film. Tristan's wife tries to appear long-suffering and wants him out of the drug business, but is attached to the luxury that his criminality affords her. Benny's girlfriend is attached to him primarily for his financial support. These factors are sure to ruffle some feathers. Other viewers, however, may see this film as an action-packed adventure and a genuine Black contribution to the genre of gangster films where audiences identify with, respect, and sometimes sympathize with characters that they wouldn't go near in real life (Can You Say "The Godfather"?) These various impressions, however, leave you wondering exactly what "Blue Hill Avenue" is trying to say or do.

All of the actors in this film, most notably Allen Payne and Clarence Williams III, breathed life into characters that we are never quite sure we believe, which says more about the immense talent of the cast than about the film itself. A sophisticated audience, however, will wonder whether some pertinent scenes are laying on the editor's floor.

The producers, directors, actors, everyone relating to this film have all been robbed of their Oscars!! This film provided me with everything I love to see in a movie. The storyline was superb, the plot, the twists, everything and everyone was excellent. So why have this film not leveled the scales with New Jack City, Sopranos, American Gangster, The Godfather or any other gangster movie out there? What does it take, because as far as I am concerned, this movie has all of that and more. So why have so few people viewed this film? I guess sometimes a movie falls under the radar and this is definitely THAT MOVIE. I loved the dialogue, the deliverance and the acting. Wow!!! Allen Payne, you've been robbed.