Five Star(2014)
Writer/Director: Keith Miller
Starring: James 'Primo' Grant, John Diaz, Wanda Nobles
"There ain't no sympathy in this shit... it's real."
Setting a clear tone for the rest of the film, Five Star opens up with one of the leads, Primo, telling an intimate story about he missed the birth of his son due to him being in jail. This is a solemn, but touching opening scene expounding on the film's two main themes: fatherhood & manhood.
Primo is a veteran Blood gang member. Specifically what bloods call a 'five star' general as such as the film's namesake and is said to be so in real life. Primo is a man of strong character and complexity. All in one breath he is a loving husband, proud father with an even deeper love for his children, a mentor and to put it no more or less harshly than it is: a ruthless gangster. Though, not the stereotypical menacing, gun toting, maniacal thug you see on TV everyday, he is a gangster nonetheless. Like most people he wants a better life for his children than he had. As evidenced by the scene where he compares his gang initiation at age thirteen to the rituals of a Bar Mitzvah, he understands exactly why he's in the world he inhabits and isn't ashamed of it. Though it's twisted, it made him the man he is today and he's proud of that, but he has sense enough to want better options for his children.
John is a teenager on the cusp of manhood in search of an identity of his own. His late father, like Primo, was a veteran Blood gang member and was a mentor to Primo. Grateful for that guidance, Primo offers to do the same for John and take him under his tutelage. Seeming to have no other apparent ambitions other than making money, John accepts. You later learn he has deeper motivations. Every time John leaves the house, he can't bend a corner without someone telling him how a great of a man his father was, how much he looks like him, how much he was respected, etc. There are suspicious circumstances surrounding his father's death and amidst talk of what kind of man he was, John's mother(Nobles) fears the same fate for her son. John assures her he is not his father, that he's his own man and his own ideas about his father. He wonders why all these people seem to know him better than he ever did. He wonders why his father was such a good man, but wasn't there for him. They say you're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but what else can you say about someone who virtually abandoned you? John certainly doesn't hate his father, but he surely doesn't fully love him either.
The film cuts back and forth between John and Primo on their separate but intersecting paths. Because there are some scenes that lag and the dialogue seems to meander, I've seen some people say the film is pointless and boring. I will say it doesn't seem like a narrative-driven film at first, but there's definitely a story here it's just not immediately cohesive. It's an atypical style of filmmaking; the cast is flush with non-actors and outside of the occasional one who can't stop smiling, they do very well most of the time. It's hard to comment on the script when it doesn't seem like there's much writing to it aside from a basic plot. Most of this film could very well be improvised so commend Miller for getting all that he did out of his talent. The camerawork is mostly handheld, lighting is mostly natural. I seen one summation of the film saying it's like "John Cassavetes directing an episode of The Wire" and I can agree with the Cassavetes comparison alone, but the The Wire one... that annoys me because every time there's something drug related with black people in it and it's any good, it gets compared to The Wire. This is not a "Gang movie" or a riff on The Wire. The Wire is a clinical ensemble interwoven with deep socio-political inclinations. This film is a loose, but intimate character study that gives a nonjudgemental look into characters that're rarely ever really explored with such care or depth and it merits attention on those qualities alone. I recommend it.
Primo is a veteran Blood gang member. Specifically what bloods call a 'five star' general as such as the film's namesake and is said to be so in real life. Primo is a man of strong character and complexity. All in one breath he is a loving husband, proud father with an even deeper love for his children, a mentor and to put it no more or less harshly than it is: a ruthless gangster. Though, not the stereotypical menacing, gun toting, maniacal thug you see on TV everyday, he is a gangster nonetheless. Like most people he wants a better life for his children than he had. As evidenced by the scene where he compares his gang initiation at age thirteen to the rituals of a Bar Mitzvah, he understands exactly why he's in the world he inhabits and isn't ashamed of it. Though it's twisted, it made him the man he is today and he's proud of that, but he has sense enough to want better options for his children.
John is a teenager on the cusp of manhood in search of an identity of his own. His late father, like Primo, was a veteran Blood gang member and was a mentor to Primo. Grateful for that guidance, Primo offers to do the same for John and take him under his tutelage. Seeming to have no other apparent ambitions other than making money, John accepts. You later learn he has deeper motivations. Every time John leaves the house, he can't bend a corner without someone telling him how a great of a man his father was, how much he looks like him, how much he was respected, etc. There are suspicious circumstances surrounding his father's death and amidst talk of what kind of man he was, John's mother(Nobles) fears the same fate for her son. John assures her he is not his father, that he's his own man and his own ideas about his father. He wonders why all these people seem to know him better than he ever did. He wonders why his father was such a good man, but wasn't there for him. They say you're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but what else can you say about someone who virtually abandoned you? John certainly doesn't hate his father, but he surely doesn't fully love him either.
The film cuts back and forth between John and Primo on their separate but intersecting paths. Because there are some scenes that lag and the dialogue seems to meander, I've seen some people say the film is pointless and boring. I will say it doesn't seem like a narrative-driven film at first, but there's definitely a story here it's just not immediately cohesive. It's an atypical style of filmmaking; the cast is flush with non-actors and outside of the occasional one who can't stop smiling, they do very well most of the time. It's hard to comment on the script when it doesn't seem like there's much writing to it aside from a basic plot. Most of this film could very well be improvised so commend Miller for getting all that he did out of his talent. The camerawork is mostly handheld, lighting is mostly natural. I seen one summation of the film saying it's like "John Cassavetes directing an episode of The Wire" and I can agree with the Cassavetes comparison alone, but the The Wire one... that annoys me because every time there's something drug related with black people in it and it's any good, it gets compared to The Wire. This is not a "Gang movie" or a riff on The Wire. The Wire is a clinical ensemble interwoven with deep socio-political inclinations. This film is a loose, but intimate character study that gives a nonjudgemental look into characters that're rarely ever really explored with such care or depth and it merits attention on those qualities alone. I recommend it.
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