PHILLY FILM FEST: AKEELAH & THE BEE
Dir. Doug Atchison
Perhaps the greatest detriment of AKEELAH & THE BEE is that it's exactly what you'd expect it to be; an uplifting underdog story with roots sowed deep into the same formulaic soil that's nourished a million sports films from ROCKY to HOOSIERS. But where AKEELAH differs from the norm is in its protagonist (a young, black girl straight outta Compton), and in tracing her journey from sheltering a hidden talent to standing in the bright glow of exaltation, AKEELAH is practically bulletproof. It helps that newcomer Keke Palmer is a star in the making, as she shoulders the entire film without a hint of kid actor annoyances. And while Laurence Fishburne could do this Mr. Miyagish stuff in his sleep (his character even has a horticulture fetish, for chrissakes!), Angela Bassett shows her great versitility as Akeelah's working-class mother. Returning to the same streets she mined with Fishburne way back when in BOYZ IN THE HOOD, Bassett's fiery realism helps ground the film even when it feels half-assed in capturing the essence of the community it tries to entrench itself in. Still, the fact that the relationship between Akeelah and her mom provides the film with its emotional core rather than that of Akeelah and Fishburne's coach speaks volumes, more so because it showcases people we rarely see in mainstream cinema; mother, daughter, black.
http://www.akeelahandthebee.com/
Opens nationwide on April 28th.
For more on the Philly Film Festival, visit phillyfests.com
Perhaps the greatest detriment of AKEELAH & THE BEE is that it's exactly what you'd expect it to be; an uplifting underdog story with roots sowed deep into the same formulaic soil that's nourished a million sports films from ROCKY to HOOSIERS. But where AKEELAH differs from the norm is in its protagonist (a young, black girl straight outta Compton), and in tracing her journey from sheltering a hidden talent to standing in the bright glow of exaltation, AKEELAH is practically bulletproof. It helps that newcomer Keke Palmer is a star in the making, as she shoulders the entire film without a hint of kid actor annoyances. And while Laurence Fishburne could do this Mr. Miyagish stuff in his sleep (his character even has a horticulture fetish, for chrissakes!), Angela Bassett shows her great versitility as Akeelah's working-class mother. Returning to the same streets she mined with Fishburne way back when in BOYZ IN THE HOOD, Bassett's fiery realism helps ground the film even when it feels half-assed in capturing the essence of the community it tries to entrench itself in. Still, the fact that the relationship between Akeelah and her mom provides the film with its emotional core rather than that of Akeelah and Fishburne's coach speaks volumes, more so because it showcases people we rarely see in mainstream cinema; mother, daughter, black.
http://www.akeelahandthebee.com/
Opens nationwide on April 28th.
For more on the Philly Film Festival, visit phillyfests.com
posted by Wook @ 8:40 AM
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