ATL
Several good ideas for a movie rumble around inside "ATL", but they never coalesce. The film is loosely based on the experiences growing up on Atlanta's south side of two of the film's producers who come from the music world, Dallas Austin and Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins. This opens up the episodic, multicharacter drama to a number of themes -- rigid class divisions within the black community, warring pressures of school versus the temptation of easy though illegal money, limited career choices and family responsibilities. But the movie, written by Tina Gordon Chism (from Antwone Fisher's story) and directed by debuting music video director Chris Robinson, remains unfocused.
"ATL" is set for a quick payoff with urban youth audiences. The film has little crossover potential.
Rapper Tip Harris stars as Rashad, a high school senior forced for several years to be the "man" of his family since the deaths of his parents in a car crash. Which means working for Uncle George's (Mykelti Williamson) janitorial service and watching over his kid brother Ant (Evan Ross, son of pop diva Diana Ross), who always is on the verge of getting into trouble.
His one outlet comes Sunday nights when he heads to the local skating rink with his crew, Esquire (Jackie Long), who dreams of attending an Ivy League college; Brooklyn (Albert Daniels), a street poet easily distracted from a succession of low-wage-paying jobs; and Teddy (Jason Weaver), a loud but lonely guy with too much gold in his teeth. Rashad's own dream, more or less put on hold, is to become a comic strip artist.
One night at the roller rink, he meets a young "ghetto fabulous" woman who calls herself New-New (Lauren London). There is an instant attraction. But this attraction must survive the eventual discovery that New-New does not come from the neighborhood.
The main characters are more fully fleshed out than is usual in films about black youths. Chism manages the neat trip of creating characters that are recognizable types yet idiosyncratic individuals in their own rights. The strongest element here is the examination street cred, assumed without dispute by southsiders yet denied to others from the "right side" of the tracks. Unfortunately, this story takes too long to kick in as the movie features too many peripheral characters and story threads that never go anywhere.
Harris, who like most of the actors is too old to be a convincing high schooler, nevertheless makes a promising feature debut in a role with considerable depth and charm. Ross, also in a film debut, demonstrates how easy it is for a basically good kid to go wrong. Long impresses as an ambitious guy caught between his aspirations and the compromises necessary to achieve those goals. London makes an attractive personality as the girl leading a double life.
Tech credits are solid. The skating action is well choreographed and shot, yet Robinson resists the temptation to turn the film into a "Sunday Night Fever" at the roller rink.
ATL
Warner Bros. Pictures
A Overbrook Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Chris Robinson
Screenwriter: Tina Gordon Chism
Story by: Antwone Fisher
Producers: James Lassiter, Will Smith, Jody Gerson, Dallas Austin
Executive producers: Timothy M. Bourne, Tionne Watkins
Director of photography: Crash
Production designer: Robb Buono
Music: Aaron Zigman
Costume designer: Shawn Barton
Editor: David Blackburn
Cast:
Rashad: Tip Harris
New-New: Lauren London
Marcus: Antwan Andre Patton
Uncle George: Mykelti Williamson
John Garnett: Keith David
Ant: Evan Ross
Esquire: Jackie Long
Brooklyn: Albert "Al Be" Daniels
Teddy: Jason Weaver
Priscilla: Lonette McKee
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 106 minutes...
"ATL" is set for a quick payoff with urban youth audiences. The film has little crossover potential.
Rapper Tip Harris stars as Rashad, a high school senior forced for several years to be the "man" of his family since the deaths of his parents in a car crash. Which means working for Uncle George's (Mykelti Williamson) janitorial service and watching over his kid brother Ant (Evan Ross, son of pop diva Diana Ross), who always is on the verge of getting into trouble.
His one outlet comes Sunday nights when he heads to the local skating rink with his crew, Esquire (Jackie Long), who dreams of attending an Ivy League college; Brooklyn (Albert Daniels), a street poet easily distracted from a succession of low-wage-paying jobs; and Teddy (Jason Weaver), a loud but lonely guy with too much gold in his teeth. Rashad's own dream, more or less put on hold, is to become a comic strip artist.
One night at the roller rink, he meets a young "ghetto fabulous" woman who calls herself New-New (Lauren London). There is an instant attraction. But this attraction must survive the eventual discovery that New-New does not come from the neighborhood.
The main characters are more fully fleshed out than is usual in films about black youths. Chism manages the neat trip of creating characters that are recognizable types yet idiosyncratic individuals in their own rights. The strongest element here is the examination street cred, assumed without dispute by southsiders yet denied to others from the "right side" of the tracks. Unfortunately, this story takes too long to kick in as the movie features too many peripheral characters and story threads that never go anywhere.
Harris, who like most of the actors is too old to be a convincing high schooler, nevertheless makes a promising feature debut in a role with considerable depth and charm. Ross, also in a film debut, demonstrates how easy it is for a basically good kid to go wrong. Long impresses as an ambitious guy caught between his aspirations and the compromises necessary to achieve those goals. London makes an attractive personality as the girl leading a double life.
Tech credits are solid. The skating action is well choreographed and shot, yet Robinson resists the temptation to turn the film into a "Sunday Night Fever" at the roller rink.
ATL
Warner Bros. Pictures
A Overbrook Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Chris Robinson
Screenwriter: Tina Gordon Chism
Story by: Antwone Fisher
Producers: James Lassiter, Will Smith, Jody Gerson, Dallas Austin
Executive producers: Timothy M. Bourne, Tionne Watkins
Director of photography: Crash
Production designer: Robb Buono
Music: Aaron Zigman
Costume designer: Shawn Barton
Editor: David Blackburn
Cast:
Rashad: Tip Harris
New-New: Lauren London
Marcus: Antwan Andre Patton
Uncle George: Mykelti Williamson
John Garnett: Keith David
Ant: Evan Ross
Esquire: Jackie Long
Brooklyn: Albert "Al Be" Daniels
Teddy: Jason Weaver
Priscilla: Lonette McKee
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 106 minutes...
- 3/31/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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