| Movie Review : Notorious By: Eunice Kim Directed by George Tillman, “Notorious” is the ambitious biopic of one of New York’s most influential rappers – Christopher Wallace a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls. Starring Jamal Woolard, Angela Bassett, Derek Luke, and Anthony Mackie, the film offers amazing performances and breathtaking cinematography that captures the intrigue and glamour of the rap industry. However, one of the biggest problems with the film is its ethical ambiguity – very much like the themes expressed in popular rap music today, “Notorious” appears to have one foot in the inspirational, moralizing, coming-of-age franchise and another foot in the unapologetically immoral, in-your-face attitude of the ghetto poet. By attempting to juggle both, the movie was not able to provide a strong picture of either. Newcomer Jamal Woolard has reproduced the tough yet childlike charm of the original B.I.G. to a tee. Other relatively new actors such as Naturi Naughton and Antonique Smith give very convincing performances as Lil Kim and Faith Evans, respectively, and Angela Bassett shines, as always, in her role as Wallace’s mother, Voletta Wallace. These are mostly what make the movie worth seeing, though I don’t recommend watching “Notorious” for a solid message or even an impressive plot. Christopher Wallace’s rise to fame is distinct because he was raised by a loving, religiously devout mother in a middle-class home, though the young Christopher is anything but naïve. He quickly learns to dominate the streets, first through drug dealing and then through hip hop. By the age of 22, Biggie Smalls rules his genre. Above all, he is an effective storyteller – cynical, hard line, and anything but righteous. “Notorious” warps this man into a martyr of sorts, a man who is forced to live a less than saintly life in order to feed his family and then conveniently turns his life around right before his death. Biggie Smalls died far too soon to change himself. That is the real tragedy here and I highly doubt that he was thinking of sentimental clichés such as, “We can’t change the world unless we change ourselves,” during his last days when he recorded his final album. An entirely different but very relevant biopic that I would like to mention is “Ray.” Though it is a tale of redemption, the film provides a sobering view of who Ray Charles really was. Kerry Washington’s line at the end of the movie says it all: “There is something that you love more than me and the boys…It’s your music!” Ray Charles wasn’t motivated to quit drugs out of love for his family–he loved his music more and the movie admits that. On the other hand, Biggie Smalls quite simply decides to become a loving father after sustaining injuries from a car accident – a plot twist that reeks of wishful thinking. Other elements of the film turned out to be all too predictable (eg. denying all responsibility Biggie Smalls supposedly had over Tupac’s shooting). Despite all of this, “Notorious” is a very enlightening film. It exposes the pettiness behind coast-to-coast feuds that originate between attention-hungry rap moguls and is to a great extent honest about Wallace’s many sins. But the film presumes to redeem the young man’s reputation with a quick roundabout change. An honest communicator like Biggie Smalls would probably prefer to be portrayed as who he truly was – sinful, artful, unregretful, and most of all - Notorious. |
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