Rap arrived in the 80s and changed everything. This style, which is part of hip-hop culture, emerged in the late 1970s in the most marginal districts of New York as a derivative of funk, and its appearance was a real revelation in the world of music.
For the first time, rhymes took over urban music and the streets became the temples of a style that sought to convey in a poetic and artistic way what was happening in a violent environment where the struggle against the system was constant. What’s more, although rap didn’t usually do this, it could do without music. MCs, or masters of ceremonies, as rappers are also known, could shape their songs by superimposing their rhymes on a musical base, also known as a beat, or by simply throwing them against the silence.
THE FILM 8 MILES
by Curtis Hanson, with Eminem and Kim Basinger, 2002.
In Detroit in 1995, Jimmy Smith Jr. has a head full of dreams, but no words to express them. As a teenager, he lived between white suburbs and black neighbourhoods, along the dividing line known as 8 Mile Road. Despite all his efforts, Jimmy has never crossed this symbolic barrier and continues to accumulate family, professional and sentimental setbacks.
One day, he took part in a clash – a rappers’ oratorical joust – where he had to face Papa Doc, the leader of the “Leaders of the Free World” gang. Paralysed by stage fright, he remained mute and had to leave the stage to the booing of the crowd. This new humiliation forced him to examine his conscience. A few days later, Jimmy finds himself forced to attempt a comeback…
8 Mile is the fascinating world of Detroit rap battles and verbal jousting. And the destiny of one man, B. Rabbit.
A film about the life of Eminem and the hardships he endured before becoming the huge star he is today.
A brilliant soundtrack, including the song Lose Yourself written by Eminem, which won the Oscar for best song.
As for the actors, Eminem gives a fine performance in his first screen role.
Kim Basinger is sublime as the lonely mother.
This magnificent film is carried from start to finish by the grace and power of Eminem, who proves that he is much more than just a rap singer. Behind the camera, director Curtis Hanson knows he has a raw gem.
Shining his light on him, he makes him shine with a thousand lights, creating a film of rare beauty and strength, far removed from the clichés of the genre. There are overtones of “Rebet without a cause” in “8 mile”.
“Exit through the gift shop”! Banksy leaves the streets for the cinema. The ace street artist recounts the life of Thierry Guetta in an exhilarating film. His double.
In a world where we are bombarded with advertising messages that invade public space, Banksy’s works offer a different perspective – one that is both funny and incisive, without being dogmatic. Banksy has finally convinced the average Englishman that the real vandals in our society are those who build the most hideous buildings, not those who draw on their walls.
The story goes that one day he met a Frenchman by the name of Thierry Guetta, a second-hand clothes salesman in Los Angeles, who wanted to film street artists, a hobby of his.
When Guetta gave him the results of his years of filming, Banksy was appalled: it was appalling, literally unwatchable. So he decided to turn the camera around and, based on what Guetta had shot, make a documentary about this slightly mad Frenchman (who, in the meantime, had almost overnight become a highly-rated, hyper-productive artist).
The result is a film that is funny, bracing and particularly (im)relevant, raising many questions about the art world, the ‘value’ of artworks and, perhaps, the reality of the work of T. Guetta (known as Mr Brainwash). Indeed, it doesn’t seem entirely out of the question that the whole thing is some kind of gigantic hoax (a multi-million dollar hoax), amounting to ‘manufacturing’ an artist of international stature from scratch!
