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Monday March 17, 2008
Floor Wars
By Kristopher Monroe
Opening this week, Planet B-Boy (TFF '07), offers insight on outsiders from around the world by following a global cast of b-boys as they compete to reach the Battle of the Year, the World Cup of breakdancing. Plus, director Benson Lee's top ten hip-hop movies.
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Benson Lee's Top Ten Hip-Hop Films
(In No Particular Order) Wild Style
Feature, Dir. Charlie Ahearn, 1983 "The all-time classic NY hip-hop film, starring a who's who of graf writers, MCs, b-boy crews, and DJs, which perfectly captures an era that will never be seen again." Beat Street Feature, Dir. Stan Lathan and Wynn P. Thomas, 1984 "Rae Dawn Chong stars in one of the first features to gain (semi) mainstream popularity and expose Middle America to future legends such as Afrika Bambaataa, Rock Steady Crew, and others." The Warriors Feature, Dir. Walter Hill, 1979 "Walter Hill's stylized cult classic of NYC street gangs who band together to battle the police, only to turn against one particular gang, the Warriors, when one of their leaders is assassinated. 'Can you dig it?'" Breakin' Feature, Dir. Joel Silberg, 1984 "Another mainstream film to feature b-boys as main characters, which came on the heels of Flashdance's popularization of the culture. Features Ice-T's film debut." Style Wars Documentary, Dir. Henry Chalfant and Tony Silver, 1983 "The definitive graffiti flick that all others aspire to be. Features every NY writer imaginable against a banging soundtrack, and done with such insight that it transcends its genre, making it an indispensable document of a certain time in history (New York of the late '70s early '80s)." Hoop Dreams Documentary, Dir. Steve James, 1994 "Documentary about two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to follow their dream of becoming star college basketball players. It caused a major controversy when it wasn't nominated for the Academy Awards." On the Ropes Documentary, Dir. Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen, 1999 "Oscar-nominated true-life story of three young boxers and their coach, who they also look to as a mentor outside the ring." Do the Right Thing Feature, Dir. Spike Lee, 1989 "Spike Lee's original 'set it off' film, set in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, on the hottest day of the year when race tensions are set to boil. We all remember what happens, right?" Shaft Feature, Dir. Gordon Parks, 1971 "The ultimate 'blaxploitation' movie that introduced the moviegoing public to the ultimate badass. Isaac Hayes also won an Academy Award for the song which has become the theme song for cool." When We Were Kings Documentary, Dir. Leon Gast, 1996 "Film about the historical heavyweight 'Rumble in the Jungle' championship match in Zaire between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, financed by dictator Mobutu Sese Suko and promoted by the indefatigable Don King." |
"There's something that’s very intangible about making a movie," explains Benson Lee, director of the energetic and passionate new hip-hop documentary, Planet B-Boy. "It's like writing a novel, or any other form of expression where you have to connect with people. You take all this information and you have to mold it into something that's presentable, something that makes people 'get it.' In this case, one of the major ideas is that hip-hop, and specifically the b-boy culture, is much more than the media perpetuates."
With its intense depictions of competitive b-boying, cross-cultural stew of vibrant personalities, and explosive hip-hop soundtrack, Planet B-Boy provides a dynamic and illuminating portrait of a subculture that’s been underrepresented for too long in the mainstream media. The film follows four b-boy crews—more commonly (and for purists, incorrectly) referred to as "breakdancers"—from Japan, South Korea, France, and the United States as they compete to reach the Battle of the Year, the annual b-boy championship held in the unlikely location of Braunschweig, Germany. Along the way, they struggle with everything from poverty to racism to family turmoil, but all share a sense of camaraderie with their crews.
"A good documentary helps you see the world differently," says Lee. "I wanted to make an entertainment that strikes a chord, that everyone can relate to. Good documentaries are about connecting and making sense of the world around us, as well as understanding others, but they also have drama and conflict, and that’s what I was trying to do with this film."
Born in Toronto and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Lee sought to transcend the limitations of his adolescent experience by renting movies from France or Czechoslovakia, which offered him glimpses of other cultures and a greater sense of the world at large. Now he hopes to pass that experience on to others. "Back in the ‘80s when I was in high school, I was one of those kids that saw that first scene in Flashdance and went and saw Beat Street and was totally mesmerized by what I saw," he explains. "But I wasn't one of those kids rolling in that whole scene back then—there wasn't much of a scene in the suburbs of Philly. But I immediately fell in love with hip-hop and everything it represented. It was the coolest thing that ever entered my life."
When he got older, Lee’s filmmaking aspirations took him first to Hawaii, for school, and later to London, where he shot his first feature, Miss Monday, a Sundance Special Jury Prize-winner in 1998, and finally to New York, the birthplace of the b-boy. It was there that a friend told him about the Battle of the Year, which he began researching online, rekindling his adolescent passion for hip-hop at the same time. He’d never made a documentary before, but this seemed like the ideal subject.
"I became really fascinated with hip-hop as a cultural movement, not just a musical movement, and the more I learned, the more I became fascinated by certain social aspects of it, and how other countries adopted and adapted it for their own means of self-expression."
When a new crew from South Korea came on the scene in 2002, making a strong showing at Battle of the Year, Lee, who is of Korean descent himself, took even more interest. "Traditionally remote countries like Korea don’t fare so well," he says. "But they came in second in the first year. That really made me look at [b-boying] from a cultural and anthropological point of view. How does a team from a country like this become so good so quickly? I realized it had everything to do with their outsider status, in the world’s view and also in their own society."
Lee gathered up a film crew and spent four months following crews from Osaka, Seoul, Paris, and Las Vegas. Within the 300 hours of footage they shot in four languages, he found remarkably similar experiences that are remarkably revealing, not only about b-boy culture, but about society as a whole.
He credits the Tribeca All Access Connects program, which promotes relationships between minority filmmakers and industry executives and financers, for helping him secure the money to get the difficult project off the ground.
"Tribeca treated us like a family, and I’ve never got that from a festival before."
The film premiered to nearly 6,000 people at an outdoor screening followed by a special exhibition performance by some of the crews from the film. "I’ve never felt like a so much of a rock star before," Lee laughs. "The energy was incredible."
Lee is currently at work on a feature film adaptation, which he's keeping close to the vest except to say that it will star real b-boys alongside professional actors.
"I want to spread more of this culture through a feature film context," he says. "I hope that’s what Planet B-Boy is going to do in terms of people realizing that hip-hop is not just about rappers talking about big booty and becoming moguls. That’s the insight I want to provide within the context of b-boying, and I want to make it for a larger audience while also challenging the notions of national and individual cultures. As long as we can connect, that’s meaningful. I think the world needs more of that, and I think the world is ready for that."
