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Title: Rize (2005)
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Larry Berry | ... |
Himself
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| Tommy the Clown | ... |
Himself
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Dragon | ... |
Himself
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La Niña | ... |
Herself
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Miss Prissy | ... |
Herself
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| Kevin Scott Richardson | ... |
Music producer
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| Christopher Toler | ... |
Lil C
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Ceasare Willis | ... |
Tight Eyez
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Reveals a groundbreaking dance phenomenon that's exploding on the streets of South Central, Los Angeles. Taking advantage of unprecedented access, this documentary film bring to first light a revolutionary form of artistic expression borne from oppression. The aggressive and visually stunning dance modernizes moves indigenous to African tribal rituals and features mind-blowing, athletic movement sped up to impossible speeds. We meet Tommy Johnson (Tommy the Clown), who first created the style as a response to the 1992 Rodney King riots and named it Clowning, as well as the kids who developed the movement into what they now call Krumping. The kids use dance as an alternative to gangs and hustling: they form their own troupe and paint their faces like warriors, meeting to outperform rival gangs of dancers or just to hone their skills. For the dancers, Krumping becomes a way of life--and, because it's authentic expression (in complete opposition to the bling-bling hip-hop culture), the ... Written by Sujit R. Varma
Primus fans, admittedly not exactly the target audience for this film, will immediately recognize the lyrics above and hopefully get a little kick out of it. People who don't know Primus, probably most of the people who would watch this documentary and read about it, will most likely send me angry e-mails.
I am not the biggest fan of hip-hop, rap, r&b, etc., but I decided to check out this documentary because I recently moved to LA and I appreciate seeing people who take difficult life situations and turn them into something positive, and that is exactly what happens in this movie. All of these kids living in the so called dangerous parts of Los Angeles take their frustration and their fear and channel it into a unique style of dancing, which is often quite a spectacle to behold.
It starts with a man who calls himself Tommy the Clown, who entertains at children's parties much like most other types of clowns, except that he specializes in an amazing dance performance rather than magic tricks and balloon animals, and before long other dancing clown groups are popping up all over the place, mostly staffed by kids and teenagers who otherwise would more than likely get involved in a life of crime.
This is an amazing look into the reality of the lives that these people live, right down to individual dance parties, some of the unwritten social rules of the people who dance together (the styles change so quickly that they can tell who has missed even a single day of dancing), and tragic events that take place in their everyday lives. Even if this is not your style of music or dancing, this documentary is definitely worth a look to see how some people take something so difficult and so bad in their lives and turn it into something good. Truly inspiring.