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Cool and slick with an engaging subject but, unlike the cars, there is really nothing under this slick paintjob
With a score from A$AP Rocky and a lot of cool shots from director Monaghan of things related to gang culture, this film is probably going to be very popular – helped by it being produced and distributed by Nowness. All of these things it does well and we get a very cool black and white tour through the aspects of gang culture of low-riding and also some discussion of the former drug game which our subject Fredrick James Staves used to head up. With a score from A$AP Rocky we have plenty of slow-motion cool shots of cars, of people posing with tattoos, those familiar houses and so on. It all looks cool and to the casual viewer who is outside of this world and culture, it is quite alluring.
The problem is that it also seems to have been alluring to British director Monaghan and several times the film just contents itself to look on in glossy admiration, giving the film a sense of superficiality. Luckily for the film Staves is a big presence and big character; we hear him talk about getting busted, about his personal ethics when it comes to murdering someone (never in front of family apparently – which is why he is still upset about being arrested in front of his son), and about his regrets. We also see him at work in his garage where a meeting shows he is still very much the character who ran the streets, even if he now only runs a garage (it is not clear in the film what the subject of the meeting is, so maybe he was just being a drama queen?!). Staves holds the eye and ear and it is very easy to give him (and the film) your attention when he is talking. Again though the problem is that the film is too taken by this cool man and his cool story and his cool cars, so it really never goes anywhere with him. Yes we get some regrets spoken of but they are very glib and starkly in contrast with the light in Staves eyes when he speaks on the old days of running on the streets. I can understand why the film struggles because I too could have listened to Staves' stories for ages and never once push him on the reality of what he was doing.
Baby Gangster is a very slickly packaged film with good cinematography, an engaging and lively subject and additional cool points brought in by A$AP Rocky; problem is that all of this adds up to a cool and superficial "video of the day" rather than something of lasting interesting and substance and it is a shame that it really didn't make more of the potential.
The problem is that it also seems to have been alluring to British director Monaghan and several times the film just contents itself to look on in glossy admiration, giving the film a sense of superficiality. Luckily for the film Staves is a big presence and big character; we hear him talk about getting busted, about his personal ethics when it comes to murdering someone (never in front of family apparently – which is why he is still upset about being arrested in front of his son), and about his regrets. We also see him at work in his garage where a meeting shows he is still very much the character who ran the streets, even if he now only runs a garage (it is not clear in the film what the subject of the meeting is, so maybe he was just being a drama queen?!). Staves holds the eye and ear and it is very easy to give him (and the film) your attention when he is talking. Again though the problem is that the film is too taken by this cool man and his cool story and his cool cars, so it really never goes anywhere with him. Yes we get some regrets spoken of but they are very glib and starkly in contrast with the light in Staves eyes when he speaks on the old days of running on the streets. I can understand why the film struggles because I too could have listened to Staves' stories for ages and never once push him on the reality of what he was doing.
Baby Gangster is a very slickly packaged film with good cinematography, an engaging and lively subject and additional cool points brought in by A$AP Rocky; problem is that all of this adds up to a cool and superficial "video of the day" rather than something of lasting interesting and substance and it is a shame that it really didn't make more of the potential.
helpful•00
- bob the moo
- Apr 23, 2014
Details
- Runtime8 minutes
- Color
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