Movies about rap battles are a rare breed. Of course, there’s the blisteringly ill rhymes in 2002’s Eminem-led drama “8 Mile,” and, more recently, this summer’s Sundance sensation “Patti Cake$,” featured a white New Jersey teenager dreaming of rap-stardom. But Hollywood has mostly stayed away from this incredibly popular urban underground activity where rappers battle in improv-filled, braggadocio-laden, lyric spouting contests.
Director Joseph Kahn — the filmmaker behind “Detention” and dozens of iconic music videos for artists, most notably Taylor Swift‘s “Bad Blood”– acts like he doesn’t care about what might be his audiences lack of knowledge of the topic. The scrawny white boy in his latest film “Bodied” (not so shockingly produced by Eminem), which opened this year’s Midnight Madness program at TIFF, can spout lyrics left and right, off the top of his head, without missing a beat. This white boy phenom is named Adam (Calum Worthy), a Ph.D. candidate in literature, whose thesis is actually about the “use of the N-word in battle rap.”
Just like “Patti Cake$” and “8 Mile,” “Bodied” is very much an underdog story. Adam is introduced attending a rap battle, with his girlfriend Maya (Rory Uphold) for research on his thesis. Battle Champ Behn Grymm (Jackie Long) has won yet another throwdown and left his opponent in the dust.. Adam later interviews Ben, who forces a reluctant Adam to a rap battle with another “white dude.” Lo and behold, the rhymes that Adam comes up with are unusually impressive, the kid has a talent he didn’t know he had in him. Thoroughly taken back, his tight MC skills compel Behn to ask Adam if he wants to join his own crew of battlers which includes the Ecuadorian Che Corleone, Korean Prospek and many more. Maya the girlfriend, a PC enthusiast, disapproves as she can’t condone the misogyny present in rap and hip-hop. It doesn’t help Adam’s whiteness is the constant target of his adversaries.
Kahn, a hardcore hip-hop enthusiast who wrote the story with actual rap battler Alex Larsen, decided to cast non-professional actors in major roles and this proves to be a wise decision. There is a natural, free-flowing feel to the verbal fireworks on display in the abandoned warehouse and they light up the screen. Kahn’s music video background comes in handy as well, effortlessly lensing the rap battle scenes with scorching visual excitement– the way the camera moves and the way these scenes are edited is infectiously modern and striking. Shooting with cinematographer Matthew Wise, Kahn brings eclectic energy to the surroundings, especially in their use of dizzying whip pans.
If there’s a problem with “Bodied” it’s that the drama cannot sustain the intensity built up in its first half. If the world introduced feels fresh and vitally alive, it eventually becomes repetitive and less involving as the rhymes go on. The “Bodied” narrative architecture is such you’re invested in the outcome of the hero, but not to the extent you’d hoped by the third act. Kahn has time to hone his craft and tighten his narrative for future endeavors in the feature film arena, but after crafting nearly hundreds of music videos, one would think he’d have a firmer grasp of structure, especially given his ambitious, story-driven clips. Additionally, Kahn could use a lesson with economy, to some degree, the 120 minute running time overstays its welcome. Still, the dynamic feats with the camera go a long way to keeping the viewer absorbed.
While rap battles are sometimes superficially defined by arrogant boasts and empty insults hurled from contestant to contestant there is social and political substance to the tongue-twisters in “Bodied” conveyed through these rap wizards. Topics such as race, poverty, masculinity and politics are tackled in thought-provoking ways. It all makes for an entertaining, if not slight, ride that proves Kahn has the chops to graduate into feature films and maybe has a genre classic in him just screaming to get out. [B]
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