I don't know who among you has had the pleasure of coming across the widely successful Canadian mockumentary comedy series "Trailer Park Boys." For those of you who have not, it is a series in the style of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" in that it is about poor and (very) stupid people getting into schinanigans that, if taken out of the comedic context, are just down right horrible and almost inhuman. Luckily, it is always in a comedic context. It is about several rednecks in Dartmouth, Nova Scoita, that live in a trailer park and are constantly trying get-rich-quick schemes that involve either drugs, alcohol, theft, or some other moderately offensive crime.
The show has produced several movies and longer specials throughout the years, and I have been marathoning them over the last week. When I saw the first movie titled simply "Trailer Park Boys" I was highly disappointed because they did not stay true to the nature of the show, left out several important characters, and switched around several key aspects that made it seem like bizaro-world. However, in this second movie, the creators decided not to mess with success and kept everything that made the show great.
Ricky is the angry and unapologetic hick that always causes more problems per minute of airtime than anyone else. He spins yarns that only the stupid cops in the show would believe as always and continues to justify being such a sad excuse for a family man. Julian is the man with the plan like usual. If you expect Bubbles to be strange, but levelheaded andloving his kittens like in the show, you will not be disappointed. Even J-ROC is his usual wiggar self. I emphasize this consistency because it was so poorly preserved in the first film and it suffered in quality as a result.
This time, the boys have squandered their inconceivable fortune again and must figure out a way to earn it back. They decide to work with Jim Lehey, trailer park supervisor, and his assistant/on-again-off-again shirtless lover Randy. They plan on having a community night at a Rec Center to promote Ray's, Ricky's disability insurance frauding father, moonshine business. As usual, Lehey sets this up as a plan to bust the boys and get them back in prison so he could enjoy another year or two of peace and quiet in the park.
The movie is filled with nonchalant gags that civilized people would find ridiculous. Every one is always hustling in their own unique way, and there is a tremendous amount of arguing and disgruntled discourse.
Unfortunately, this is not a cinematographic viewer's film. It is meant to entertain the masses, so things like symbolism, motifs, and the likes do not exist in this film. It is all low brow humor, but it is low brow humor at its finest. While I love the show and the movie dearly, I understand and accept that it will never be broadcast in film school. I write this review, more so, with the intention to promote awareness of the show because it is a gem worth exploring. Maybe the one or two of you that still occasionally glance at this page (I noticed you commented on my last post earlier today Mr. Bennett) will at least give an episode or two of this show a try. It went off air several years ago after a seven year run and a few award winning shorts to go with it. It can easily be found on megavideo, google video, and veoh.
Showing posts with label movie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movie. Show all posts
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Monday, March 16, 2009
Madea Goes To Jail
To contrast the artistic films that we have been watching in film class, I decided to pick Tyler Perry's most recent film about the craziest elderly black lady that ever roamed God's green earth.
Granted this is nowhere near "Mr. Bennet levels" of film quality, but it is not entirely fair to dismiss this film as something worth raising your nose to. Through previous films, like Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Daddy's Little Girl, it is evident that Perry's greatest attribute as a director, writer, producer, what have you, is his ability to tell the story. He often multi-facets his plot to leave his audience (whatever quality they may be) thinking. This particular story is about a lawyer in Atlanta (the setting of all his films and shows) named Joshua, who is soon to marry a fellow attorney Linda, both of whom are quickly rising in the city's legal institution. All seems well until he finds himself defending a college friend that has since become a prostitute. This bothers Josh not because he is such a naturally nice guy, which the film completely justifies, but because the two were at a point inseparable and it all fell apart one night in college when Josh unknowingly left Candie at a party with his football teammates who then raped her. Josh carries this guilt all these years and fights for her freedom to the point that his fiance actually fluffs up the charges against her in hopes of increasing her jail time. Where does Madea come in all this? She mostly serves as comical relief; the stereotype that Perry has grown comfortable with. She bumps around life from one crime to another, not in hopes of gain, but in hopes of revenge. Every time someone wrongs her, she feels the need to wrong them back a few times (this is done mostly in the form of shooting at and beating the tar out of agitators). The modern Hammurabi, if you will. After destroying a woman's car with a fork lift for just that reason, she is finally sentenced to jail after a life time of dumb luck with judges. Madea and Candie meet in jail and begin helping each other out in the day to day grind. Another character in the film is a prostitute-turned-preacher named Ellen who reverbrates one of the themes of the film. Straight out of the Bible, one forgives others not for their sake, but for their own. Carrying hatred in the heart is no way to go through life. No matter where we have come from or how bad our conditions may be, we have the choice to act in accordance with our morals. I won't spoil the ending, but believe me when I say it isn't much to spoil.
Perry is quite talented in showing the meager life that exists in the city. Prostitution, drug addiction, constant fear of invasion (by any number of forces), arrest, etc. Perry shows that every level of society experiences corruption. The lawyers at Josh's firm cheat and lie, Josh has a dark past, even the company that tries to employ Candie (as part of community service with Ellen's ministry) does not willingly take the battered Candie for a job unless she is willing to perform sexual favors on the employer. He does however offer a light of hope in Josh, Ellen, and even Madea, who is crazy but by and by a good person that does very much of her questionable behavior for the benefit of those around her.
The camera work is virtually nonexistent, only a shoulder high shot of the characters speaking is consistent, the rest of the time it is simply sowing the scene for the sake of showing the scene. The lighting is equally complex. This film offers little for the artistic mind, but Tyler Perry has grown somewhat as a movie maker. He does use symbols such as rain to show when life seems to be at its worst for Candie. The pimp that hunts for Candie drives a Cadillac Escalade while Joshua drives a Chevrolet Tahoe. Physically, these cars are virtually the same, thus suggesting a very thin line between the two extremes of good and evil. That idea is further reinforced by everyone exhibiting some jarring flaw, be it Madea's lively behavior, Linda's fraud, another lawyer's cheating on the LSATs, or even Joshua's college regret concerning Candie. Perry even pulls a Spike Lee by making Linda, the least likable character, a very pale shade of black. The prison to which Madea goes to is incidently more white than black. Coincidence or not, it can be suggested that Perry has some issues with racism (understandably so if you've ever read biographic work concerning him). However, he is no racist as a fellow jailbird (white) that starts out as a royal pain in the neck soon becomes friends with Madea and Candie.
A certain history teacher will have to forgive me about my choice of film, while I do not view this as a memorable film by any stretch of the imagination, it is a work of art nonetheless. There need to be at least twenty Madeas for every Slumdog, Reader, or Revolutionary Road. Discrimination is not my policy and I choose to evaluate every film with any shred of objectivity I may or may not have been blessed with.
Granted this is nowhere near "Mr. Bennet levels" of film quality, but it is not entirely fair to dismiss this film as something worth raising your nose to. Through previous films, like Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Daddy's Little Girl, it is evident that Perry's greatest attribute as a director, writer, producer, what have you, is his ability to tell the story. He often multi-facets his plot to leave his audience (whatever quality they may be) thinking. This particular story is about a lawyer in Atlanta (the setting of all his films and shows) named Joshua, who is soon to marry a fellow attorney Linda, both of whom are quickly rising in the city's legal institution. All seems well until he finds himself defending a college friend that has since become a prostitute. This bothers Josh not because he is such a naturally nice guy, which the film completely justifies, but because the two were at a point inseparable and it all fell apart one night in college when Josh unknowingly left Candie at a party with his football teammates who then raped her. Josh carries this guilt all these years and fights for her freedom to the point that his fiance actually fluffs up the charges against her in hopes of increasing her jail time. Where does Madea come in all this? She mostly serves as comical relief; the stereotype that Perry has grown comfortable with. She bumps around life from one crime to another, not in hopes of gain, but in hopes of revenge. Every time someone wrongs her, she feels the need to wrong them back a few times (this is done mostly in the form of shooting at and beating the tar out of agitators). The modern Hammurabi, if you will. After destroying a woman's car with a fork lift for just that reason, she is finally sentenced to jail after a life time of dumb luck with judges. Madea and Candie meet in jail and begin helping each other out in the day to day grind. Another character in the film is a prostitute-turned-preacher named Ellen who reverbrates one of the themes of the film. Straight out of the Bible, one forgives others not for their sake, but for their own. Carrying hatred in the heart is no way to go through life. No matter where we have come from or how bad our conditions may be, we have the choice to act in accordance with our morals. I won't spoil the ending, but believe me when I say it isn't much to spoil.
Perry is quite talented in showing the meager life that exists in the city. Prostitution, drug addiction, constant fear of invasion (by any number of forces), arrest, etc. Perry shows that every level of society experiences corruption. The lawyers at Josh's firm cheat and lie, Josh has a dark past, even the company that tries to employ Candie (as part of community service with Ellen's ministry) does not willingly take the battered Candie for a job unless she is willing to perform sexual favors on the employer. He does however offer a light of hope in Josh, Ellen, and even Madea, who is crazy but by and by a good person that does very much of her questionable behavior for the benefit of those around her.
The camera work is virtually nonexistent, only a shoulder high shot of the characters speaking is consistent, the rest of the time it is simply sowing the scene for the sake of showing the scene. The lighting is equally complex. This film offers little for the artistic mind, but Tyler Perry has grown somewhat as a movie maker. He does use symbols such as rain to show when life seems to be at its worst for Candie. The pimp that hunts for Candie drives a Cadillac Escalade while Joshua drives a Chevrolet Tahoe. Physically, these cars are virtually the same, thus suggesting a very thin line between the two extremes of good and evil. That idea is further reinforced by everyone exhibiting some jarring flaw, be it Madea's lively behavior, Linda's fraud, another lawyer's cheating on the LSATs, or even Joshua's college regret concerning Candie. Perry even pulls a Spike Lee by making Linda, the least likable character, a very pale shade of black. The prison to which Madea goes to is incidently more white than black. Coincidence or not, it can be suggested that Perry has some issues with racism (understandably so if you've ever read biographic work concerning him). However, he is no racist as a fellow jailbird (white) that starts out as a royal pain in the neck soon becomes friends with Madea and Candie.
A certain history teacher will have to forgive me about my choice of film, while I do not view this as a memorable film by any stretch of the imagination, it is a work of art nonetheless. There need to be at least twenty Madeas for every Slumdog, Reader, or Revolutionary Road. Discrimination is not my policy and I choose to evaluate every film with any shred of objectivity I may or may not have been blessed with.
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