Again, true to life, but not always easy to understand as a viewer. The dialogue is also sometimes not audible, features a lot of slang, and frequently people talk over each other. In its attempts to replicate true life, it doesn't exactly have the most satisfying narrative, as hey, I guess life doesn't always follow a 3-act structure. The authenticity and commitment to the found footage style is admirable. It provides an insight into why people commit crimes (early on, Curtis mentions it being about paying for very ordinary things like rent and providing for his infant child), and also depicts how the cycle of drug dealing and crime can continue through generations in the film's best scene, where he prepares drugs for sale whilst talking about how his family did it when he was a kid, and observes his own child running around as he prepares drugs and states that he himself remembered doing that as a kid. Not that I thought this would be a comedy, but I guess I wasn't prepared for it to get as heavy and insightful as it does (and I mean that in a good way). It approaches the plot of a low-level criminal named Curtis stealing a video camera and documenting his life in a more serious fashion than expected.
Every city in America has ghetto's such as these that are largely ignored by the mass public, and I think we need to look at restoring these places in order to help the children (like a young Curtis Snow) who were born into drugs, guns, and violence.Ĭertainly one of the more interesting and unique found footage type movies I've seen in a while. I feel that this film really is a call to action. I would suspect that the deep underlying issues that this film raises is the reason this independent movie has seen such attention in the press (and the reason I watched it). Though the film's content is harsh and unrelenting the way the camera follows the action, the way in which this film was cut together, and the social questions it raises along with the controversy are quite an artistic accomplishment. To the reviewer who mentioned that this film has no artistic value, I would definitely have to disagree. When you watch this movie, you see it from Curtis Snow's perspective, who is a drug dealer, robbery boy who only knows the life he was born into. This is another found-footage film that veers into uncharted waters and takes a look without any moral judgement (like most Hollywood movies) of Atlanta's most dangerous hood, "The Bluff". I'm biased to "found footage" type films, and this is now one of my favorites, it's gonna be a good-add to my collection, next to my other crime-dramas. It's interesting to me that these filmmakers were able to get in, and get out alive. This man is from the poorest area in Atlanta, I'm talking dirt poor, where people are raised in a violent drug filled world, little hope. His problems are not like mine, but for some reason I could actually relate to the "need to provide" themes in this movie. It was very realistic, and I really like how clever they were.
Though I don't agree with all of the actions of Curtis Snow, this movie was kinda interesting.
I live in the Westend area, which is only a few miles from "The Bluff" (the neighborhood this movie was shot in). I moved down to Atlanta for my job a few years ago, and I was instantly taken back by the difference in the way people live here. OK, I'll be honest, I'm a conservative middle aged woman from the Mid West area of the United States.