A documentary looking at the new craze within the inner cities areas in LA - clowning. Clowning involves groups of kids getting together, putting on face paint and dancing - essentially a modern version of break dancing. Those involved talk about how they use it as an option that doesn't involve gangbanging, drugs or crime.
I'll be honest from the very start and say that some of the clowning dancing I thought was all a bit silly. At one point one of the guys says `if you dismiss our dancing then you have to dismiss ballet', well, the problem is that I'm not a big dance fan, although I can appreciate skills when I see them. Here the dancing is very skilful (and quite sexy for all of us that love the ol' hip hop girl moves!) but I did think that the krunk style (basically battles and a lot of aggression) was all over the place and was more like play fighting than dancing.
This film does a good job of trying to capture the reality of the situation. It is hard to bring this culture to my middle class Irish world, but the film did well to make me understand what and why about the whole thing. The characters in the film are very skilful - from `large' adults right down to amazing 5 year old kids! I did have an issue with the sheer sexuality of the dances which little children were being encouraged to perform but at the end of the day, like many of them say, this is an outlet that doesn't involve them picking up a gun to prove themselves. The reality of LA is best seen in the fact that the film is dedicated to one of the dancers, a preteen girl who was shot with her friend in a drive by.
Some of those who talk to camera conform to the stereotypical `yo dawg' dialogue and have nothing to really say other than bigging up their crew. However some of them are really insightful and, while they speak in ebonics, they had me listening to their every word as they presented their subject in an intelligent and accessible manner.
Overall this is not a culture I felt like I would want to be part of as I simply cannot dance to save my life but I did enjoy this film. Some of it is a little silly if you ask me but the principle, get off the streets and stay safe, is worthy enough. As one of the dancers says, they have no after school clubs, all they have to do legally is football or basketball because `in the inner city we're all thought of as sports players'. In a culture where the young die quicker than the older, any activity that gives an outlet than won't lead to jail or death is interesting and this film does a good job of mixing interviews and footage to present it in a very interesting manner.
