SXSW Film Review
The FP
Accompanied by his brother JTRO, Beat-Beat Revelation champion BTRO must compete for the pride of their hometown, Frazier Park (The FP). His opponent: ruthless fighter and trash talker, L Dubba E. L Dub not only defeats BTRO, he sends him to an early grave. L Dub's instant climb to power has forced The FP to fall into disarray. Crazed with anger, JTRO vows revenge. After a crash course in the ancient techniques of Beat-Beat from master BLT, JTRO challenges L Dubba E. Their battle to the finish, born of lust, power and revenge, will leave only one man standing.
WHO'S IT FOR?: People who think that "midnight movies" are only played at that certain time because that's when all cults meet. Being talented at Dance Dance Revolution is not required. JTRO himself said at SXSW that, and I'm paraphrasing, "This is for those who enjoy Jerry Bruckheimer films ironically."
OVERALL
Like the Wonderland that sucks in little virginal Alice into a mind-blowing odyssey of stunning events and funky characters, all of them dressed up with impeccable costuming, The FP grabs hold of its lucky viewers and takes them through a world more magical than something we could ever try to conceive ourselves.
From two brothers who worked on the underrated exquisite classic of “F**k You” cinema, Crank: High Voltage, the mentality of The FP is indeed very self amusing, much like the recent Your Highness, etc. It must have been great fun to make, yet the audience becomes in tune with the brilliance of The FP once its tone becomes crystal clear at the very beginning. The FP does whatever it wants, and doesn’t even know what a boundary looks like. It takes “over-the-top” to sky-high levels of creativity, making everything as positively wild as possible, from dialogue, to costuming, to performances (which are great), to even the way the film ends itself. Mixing in nudges and punches at 80’s movie machoness with the recent craze of flashy dance movies, The FP provides immaculate entertainment for the midnight movie crowd, and beyond. Apparently, I laughed louder and more obnoxiously with The FP than I did at Super.
“Shit’s tough in the FP, bitch!” Words of more brilliance have probably never been spoken, and this isn’t even the best moment of The FP’s linguistic powers. Believe it or not, The FP has some of the smartest commentary about the usage of the word “nigga” you’ll see in all of pop culture. Used throughout, the word is given 0% empowerment, nor any calibration as a weapon. While it has been juggled in pop culture as either a vicious racial term or an extremely difficult word for camaraderie, The FP gives the word neither position, and instead takes away the power of the word by flaunting it throughout its story, pointing out how silly it is. The FP is so on-mark with its understated wit that it even turns the word into a stupid, stupid, stupid phrase: “Never Ignorant in Getting Goals Accomplished.”
This is full force filmmaking at its most awesome - just read that plot synopsis again. I want to live in The FP.
FINAL SCORE: 9/10