The film (Death of A Dynasty) was screening in the same theater where Al Pacino screened his film "Chinese Coffee" for the TFF. The build-up was there. The theater was filled to capacity. Well, the theater was full before the movie began, but by the time the movie ended and the lights came up. PEOPLE disappeared- I'm not being funny... more than 2/3 of the people vacated the theater. This movie was HORRIBLE! Now this is coming from someone who KNOWS Films. To prove it. No film was wasted because it was shot on a Canon XL1 by using the factory electronic lens (instead of a manual lens where the DP could have better control). The actors portraying Jay Z, Damon Dash and Sean "P-Diddy" Combs were all inside jokes where the script was paper-thin. Not having the actual characters who are so well known put the actors in place of having to go over the top in their portrayals of these hip hop icons. Some portions were over exposed (like on the ball court). Did anyone use a monitor or check the F-stop settings? The jump cut editing when Damon Dash was on the phone was trite and frivolous. The Asian girl coming out of nowhere had no back story nor purpose other than screaming "You lookin' at me?" was further proof that this film had no character development. The script was weak because it had no storyline other than a fake story to Dave (who is a parody of "The Source" magazine) which is a non-story in and of itself. Not even the music was worthy of my time. The direction was non-existent and I'm not certain if it's because of the lack of script or vision, but it looked as if someone free-styled every scene and had a guy with a Canon XL1 put it on tape. I found myself anxious and going from wanting this film to succeed desperately to wanting to join the 2/3's leaving en-mass to get the get the hell out of the theater. Nevertheless, I stayed hoping it would get better. It did not. The JMJ cameo and Aaliyah's salute were the ONLY causes for applause in the film. Yet, if you think about it, you do GOOD work for someone you're saluting; not the worse, God-awful thing since Russell's 'Tougher Than Leather' fiasco. I'd have to put this in that category; ego-driven, non talented piece of decadence that is messing it up for REAL talented young filmmakers that could have used that budget and that cast to make something GREAT & FUNNY or at least GOOD.
Review of Death of a Dynasty
