Black Movies Review: Freestyle – Made in Jamaica

Freestyle
Available on DVD from Amazon

Here is the basic premise of too many dance films: a beautiful posh girl dreams of becoming a ballet dancer and moves to New York, where she meets a guy from the wrong side of the tracks with some fresh hip hop moves. She learns to be herself through the power of street dance, and the two fall in love. She must then make a tough choice: continue with her ballet dreams or follow her heart?

Transport the whole thing to London, and swap ballet for studying at Oxford and street dance for “freestyle basketball” (a cross between basketball and breaking) and you know the whole plot for Freestyle. Admittedly, this seems like quite deep stuff when you’re 10, but it’s hard to believe a grown-up could seriously think this formula has any artistic merit.

Ondene (Lucy Stanhope) is the posh girl in question, torn between her mum’s sensible desire for her to get good A-level results and her own desire to enter a freestyle competition. The motivation of Leon (Arinze Kene), the hot guy from the wrong side of the tracks, makes a lot more sense. He wants to win the top prize of £15,000 so he can afford to go to university. As Ondene’s ball skills improve during the obligatory sports training montages, the sparks between her and Leon begin to fly.

Or rather they would fly if Lucy Stanhope could emote at all. When casting, director Kolton Lee was looking for basketball players who can act rather than actors who know how to handle a ball, and so held open auditions. Originally Stanhope’s acting wasn’t considered strong enough, but they changed their minds. This was a mistake. Although extremely pretty, Stanhope’s strange approximation of a posh accent (in which every consonant of every word is enunciated) means that her voice is dead to emotion.

The rest of the cast do a lot better. Kene, an actor first and basketball player second, is one to watch. Charming and cheeky, he does a lot with what he’s given. Some established actors appear amidst the unknowns, with Colin Salmon and Danny John Jules popping up for pleasing cameos.

There are some other positives. The film was shot in south and east London, and the backdrop feels very real and polished. Freestyle is the third feature produced by the Film London Microwave scheme, which gives film-makers a budget of £100,000. Lee has done a great job to get such a good-looking film for so little money. The soundtrack to the film is very catchy, with contributions from up-and-coming grime artists.

Freestyle certainly has good intentions. Young black characters are shown having fun rather than getting into trouble and the taboo issue of colourism is also raised (although perhaps perpetuated by making the heroine as innocent light-skinned girl and the “villain” darker-skinned). However, having good intentions can’t undo the silliness of the story and the weakness of the script.

Made in Jamaica
Available on DVD from Network

French director Jérôme Laperrousaz obviously loves Jamaica and its music, so it is unfortunate that Made in Jamaica, his documentary about the contemporary music scene on the island, is a hit and miss affair. The film is a collection of performances by a diverse range of artists, with some interview footage in-between. With no narration or historical context, these performances have to be taken at face value – and they really are a mixed bag.

Big names from both roots reggae and dancehall are included, and the two styles sit uneasily side by side. For those not well-versed in the music of Jamaica, big questions about how one style developed from the other, the role of violence and misogyny in contemporary lyrics, and the legacy of slavery go unanswered.

If the performances had been live, some of these problems could be forgiven. Concert footage has its own built-in narrative, a relationship with the crowd and a realism that can be appreciated on its own merits. However, these performances are mostly set up and artificial, choreographed with extras and filmed with multiple takes. Interviews from fascinating characters like Lady Saw and Bunny Wailer are squeezed between these, which just seems bizarre.

DVD might be the best format for this documentary, though. When viewed all at once in a cinema, it is a strange and confusing and boring hodge-podge. At home with the help of the fast forward button and the extra performance footage on the disc, reggae and dancehall fans can enjoy it as a collection of music videos. Novices need not apply.