Krumped

Although I haven't seen Krumped, I was at the premiere of Rize at Sundance Film Festival. It is a full length feature documentary based on the short Krumped. Rize documents the the dance style called krumping or clowning. The film focuses on some of the people that were instrumental in the beginnings of the new dance movement,including "Tommy the Clown" who is given credit to popularizing the dance style as well as starting a dance academy to keep kids out of trouble. According to the film and people in the film has save people's lives. The piece was done very well and really gives excellent in site on the relatively new dance style. I had a chance to talk with David LaChapelle at the premier, who by the way is a very down to earth guy. Excellent film!

The disclaimer at the start of the film that none of the footage was sped up or altered at first seems ludicrously unnecessary, but soon it seems more like a lie... how can anybody move that fast? The filmmaker is moving fast too, as he quickly whips through the history of street dancing which has led to the new underground dance movement - Krumping. Reportedly a feature doc is in the works, and it'll be interesting to see if the energy can sustain a full-length flick. Either way, this short is a blast.

One of the best produced and directed short films that I have seen in a long time. KRUMPED is a creative tour de force and is by far the best fake documentary since THIS IS SPINAL TAP... it may surpass SPINAL TAP in several aspects, including the subtlety of the narrative fiction. This movie shows the creative genius that David LaChapelle has. It is completely sensory overload from beginning to end, both sight and sound. Hopefully this movie will make the festival rounds so people will be able to see it in theaters. Seeing the film in a theater is truly the way this film should be seen.

An amazing documentary of a dancing underworld in LA. The cinematography captures the raw energy of the kids.The non-diegetic music is especially effective. I really enjoyed this film and feel it completely deserved to win at the Sundance Film festival. LaChapelle has proved with this film that his talent is not just confined to photography. The dance becomes more of an art form than just some kids dancing in the streets, it is a release of raw emotion - which in turn provokes the audience's emotion. I sometimes find it hard to believe the note at the beginning of the film that says that none of the film has been sped up because how can people move that fast -its insane. The story is focused on the kids love for dancing and the history behind its formation. I think because of this film krump dancing will become the 'hottest' new style of dancing -its already in the missy elliot videos and the chemical brother new video has krump dancers with the face paint. I think I preferred the clown dancers to the Krump dancers, because I felt sometimes the Krump dancers in the interviews took the whole thing a bit too seriously. I've made lots of my friends watch Krumped and they have all really enjoyed it, I would recommend it to anyone - it is just simply a great film.