Hey. "American Pimp" just started showing on the dish a few days ago, and I had the chance to watch it over the weekend. Actually, I watched it 4 times over the last 3 days. Yeah, that interesting.
I would rather call the film interesting than good, for the fact that the subject matter, while glamorized (by the pimps themselves), was presented in an honest, almost documentary style. Although it was among the most interesting movies I've seen this year, it also repulsed me to no end. Watching men who are basically predators try to glamorize and justify what they do, and talk about love in the most twisted manner I've ever heard just made me sick to the stomach. Unfortunately, what made it all the more disturbing was that all of this wasn't scripted; these are people who actually believe their own sorry bullshit and love it. Watch it and draw your own conclusions; I guarantee you won't be bored.
The Hughes brothers did a fantastic job at directing the film and having the Macks say whatever they wanted to say. One thing that disappointed me was that the women weren't given nearly enough of a voice, and I think I would've liked to see what they're viewpoint was about "the game", away from the threat of getting beat down for having an opinion about selling their bodies. This was a flick that made you (me) think about prostitution, so getting the whole story would have been far more interesting, rather than just giving only one side a voice. On the other hand, I guess the Hughes brothers thought that the Ho's viewpoint wouldn't have made as much of an impact on film, but I ain't so sure. I should say that any moralizing on the subject of Pimping wasn't done by the directors. Rather, they did an admirable job of presenting the game and it's players and letting em' all say their piece, and leaving the viewer draw his own conclusions.
For fans of the funk, y'all definitely won't be disappointed with "American Pimp". The flick features tons of footage from Blaxploitation classics like "Foxy Brown", "The Mack", "Slaughter's Big Ripoff", and others that I can't recall right now. The soundtrack is simply flawless; the music was used perfectly and did a great deal to add to the overall mood of the film and enhance its subject matter. Those looking for the perfect funk compilation would be very well served by buying this soundtrack. It's all here: Marvin Gaye, Isaac Hayes, Con Funk Shun, Curtis Mayfield, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Willie Hutch, James Brown. Taking into consideration that there were no original tracks and that all the music for this film was "classic" funk, I'd say that it may very well be the most perfect soundtrack I've ever heard to accompany a film.
In any case, I thought that y'all would find this film interesting, so you may wanna check it out. Be sure to post your reviews, as it'd be interesting to see if you felt like I did about it.
Stimp
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