The World of Craig Brewer

Last week I rented Black Snake Moan, because it's been on my list of movies to see since I first heard of it, and when I walked into the video store it was the first title I saw that I could rent for a week. (I have so many movies I want to see, I spend very little time choosing one.) I don't think it's a great movie, but I liked it, mainly because the performances are so strong, and because the story tries to be different. I like movies that are a little bit off, a little bit strange, but not completely crazy impossible to get a handle on. Movies like this usually don't end up having a wide appeal, and often don't do well at the box office, and I don't think this was an exception. But it appeals to me, and I thought I might become a fan and supporter of writer/director Craig Brewer.

I'd heard nothing but great things about Hustle & Flow, so, after renting and liking Black Snake Moan, I figured I might as well see the guy's other movie, which I had at one point intended to see first, for the sake of being chronological, but it just didn't happen that way. And I didn't really like it. There's nothing bad to say about it, it's a strong film, decent storytelling, but I just didn't feel like it was anything new the way Black Snake is. It was all right, but I knew every beat of the story before it happened, I felt exactly where it was going every step of the way, and I just didn't care.

So the end result of this: I can see a lot of love and talent and hard hard work went into both movies, probably a lot more into Hustle & Flow, just because it's his first major film and it's always more difficult to establish oneself the first time, but after all of that work has been done and the movie is in place and it exists on its own, what separates the two? Story. How is it told, what does it show us, what do we experience in the telling? That's really what everything comes down to. The older I get, and the more I write, and the greater number of movies I see, the truer this maxim proves itself to be: story above all.

I don't care if you're a complete nobody with a mini dv and a bunch of friends and no money; you can make a great movie if you tell a great story. You can be a superbigshot badass with two hundred million dollars and a three hundred person crew and the greatest equipment in the galaxy, and if your story is pedestrian, the viewer's interest will walk out on you; heh heh. Story story story story story. Art painted on the sidewalk is still art. Beauty is beauty, truth is truth, in all its forms and incarnations.

Okay, so I titled this The World of Craig Brewer and went off topic a bit, not saying much about his movies, but I said what I feel and that's all I'm trying to do. The guy knows how to make a film, and if he keeps it new and interesting, I'm on board for the next one.