Tom Joad here, I should have been rewitnessing the perfection that is the new release of THE EXORCIST with Harry and Guillermo tonight, but alas, Annette Kellerman showed up and made me late, late, late!!!
She has been struggling as of late to get her reviews in. She had some conflict in her schedule this year at SXSW, but more on that later... AMERICAN PIMP is the documentary that was at the top of my list this year, and at the last minute The Dude used The Force and led me to a screening of THE OPERATOR. I am so upset I missed the Hughes Brothers and AMERICAN PIMP!!!!!!!! I can only pray a screener will arrive at AICN soon, so that Harry and I will have a chance to check it out!!! Here is Annette with her take on AMERICAN PIMP...
Hey everyone. Annette here, submitting my first report from SXSW. And what am I picking as my first and most important review from the festival? Well, of course the Hughes Brothers AMERICAN PIMP is at the top of my list! Seriously, ever since all the hoopla involving AMERICAN PIMP vs. HBO's PIMPS UP, HOS DOWN, I've been patiently waiting for the Hughes Brothers portrayal of the elusive profession. I mean, any directing duo that can show me a Vietnam soldier choking on his own package can SURELY show me the true ways of the pimp. AND…I am happy to report that AMERICAN PIMP is fantastic! Making their documentary debut, the Hughes Brothers unleash their usual veracity on the format, completely dissecting the ringleaders of the oldest profession. Now, since one of my very favorite genres of film is blaxploitation, and you can't have a blaxploitation flick without a pimp, I've always been curious about the real deal. I mean, did they really wear the outrageous clothes, drive the ridiculous cars, and call the girls bitches? Thankfully, these questions and more were answered- most in the first few minutes. The rest of this trip into the world of the player reveals not only reinforcements of the most cliché of clichés, it also shows the distinct history, tribulations, and sometimes-unfavorable ramifications of selling sex. New and old, legal and illegal, reformed or still in the game- virtually all sides of pimping gets its time. Almost all sides that is. There was a part of me really hoping to see at least a little about white pimps or female pimps. Admittedly, I saw these topics covered in the other pimp doc that I mentioned earlier. So I understand, and it didn't matter. AMERICAN PIMP is great. I couldn't wait to see what was next, and when it was over I knew I had to see it again. So many times a documentary can lose its original purpose amid moral uncertainty and "message making," however AMERICAN PIMP offers nothing but an honest look at something a lot of us can't help but want to know more about…The Hughes Brothers are cool.
Well, that's all for now.
