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Hip-hop is a familiar phrase that can encompass a variety of meanings. For some it is a form of dance, for others it is a style of clothing. For director and producer Bob Bryan it is a culture that is misunderstood by many, including those involved in it. In response, Bryan created the Graffiti Veritè series that dispels mainstream assumptions and reflects the creator’s passion and love, not just for hip-hop, but people as well.

“My series is meant to engage people intellectually and otherwise,” Bryan said in an interview. “…Hip-hop is much broader than big booties, gang-banging and bling-bling.”

Specifically looking at “GV9 Soulfulways: The DJ,” Bryan is able to reveal the technical skills required in a turntablist as well as the impact spinning has on the hip-hop movement. He interviews a variety of people from DJs to emcees to painters and allows them to express their own opinions about the subject.

“I kept the narrative strictly from the mouth of those who were actually doing the actions,” Bryan said. “I really wanted to be inside.”

By creating a film fueled by the artists, Bryan is not just telling a story about spinning. He is telling a story about people, who create the sounds that the untrained ear mistakes for background noise. He is telling a story about a culture that is not just limited to DJs or rappers or painters or dancers. It is a movement that includes all of the above.

Bryan started his series after moving from New York, where he grew up with a specific notion about graffiti art. He described trains as moving art galleries and was used to seeing these styles from his upbringing.

“When I came to LA, I realized the expression…is completely different from New York,” Bryan said. “After being exposed to LA graffiti, I decided if I didn’t know the true story of LA graffiti art, nobody did.”

Bryan completed various jobs for various companies and gradually moved up the ranks and gained enough experience to start his own company. His first project was “Graffiti Veritè: Read the Writing on the Wall.”

Since the first film was released in 1995, the series has expanded to 11 films, which cover all facets of the hip-hop culture. The latest production, “GV11: Don’t Believe Da Noize,” is the first film in Bryan’s two-part series that looks at hip-hop as a whole.

It allows viewers both inside and outside of the culture, to see hip-hop in a way other than through the eyes of mainstream media. The film acknowledges pioneers of the underground movement and the difficulty such artists can encounter with mainstream competition.

GV11 explores a world that Hollywood historically exaggerated or misconstrued. It brings to light deeper aspects about hip-hop and points out that this movement is unique its applicability to so many different forms of expression.

“Hip-hop is a dialogue, is an expression, is a communication medium,” Bryan said. “It’s a multi-intelligence model…Various people with various skill sets are able to come to hip-hop and express themselves. It’s not like any other art form you’ve ever seen.”

The series has gained critical acclaim from sources at Harvard University to the LA Times according to Bryan. He attributes this success to his desire to “turn people’s lights on.”

“I just want the dialogue,” Bryan said. “I think very few people talk about things anymore. They’ve been silenced for whatever reason.”

Bryan brings dialogue. His series is fantastic in the way it exposes the grime and glamour of hip-hop. The movement is not about fame and fortune, though sometimes people assume it to be. The movement is about expression, and Bryan is doing his part in expressing himself.

He said everything reflects its creator, and for the Graffiti Veritè series, we can see the passion and love Bryan has for his work and people. The realist in him comes out in the film’s style, but his compassion comes out when you understand why he has created such films.

“If you really look a my work, it’s literature,” Bryan said. “Everything I do is about positivity and love.”

The twelfth film is currently in production, which Bryan said looks at the darker side of hip-hop. He said he will explore materials like gangs and racial slurs, and how the hip-hop movement was able to give ownership to these otherwise hurtful things.

The films need not be watched in numerical order, but they should be watched for anyone interested in hip-hop. The series gives an invaluable look at the culture through the eyes that are living it and will be certain to open your eyes no matter if you are inside or outside the movement.

For more information on the Graffiti Veritè Series please visit :http://www.graffitiverite.com/

Welcome to the criminal world, Tarantino style. Plenty of blood, violence, and swearing and a great story in the middle. Beautifully written and shot this movie grabs your attention and never lets go. Job: Steal a shipment of polished stones - diamonds - that came in from Isreal. Location of job: Local jewelery shop. Number of men needed for job: five. Time needed to complete job: 2 minutes. Sounds easy enough right? Maybe not. Joe, the big boss, and his son Eddie, played wonderfully by the late Chris Penn, bring together five of their most trusted criminal friends and aquaintances for a diamond heist.

None of them know anything about each other which is how Joe wants to keep it. He instructs them not to offer any personal information about themselves to each other. No names, no history, nothing. That should keep everyone safe in case one of them isn't as trustworthy as they thought. He also gives each one of them an alias. Mr. Brown, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange, Mr. White, and Mr. Pink. "Why do I have to be Mr. Pink. It sounds like Mr. P****y. Can I pick my own name. I'll be Mr. Purple." "No you can't pick you're own names becaue everyone will want to be Mr. Black. You will be Mr. Pink. Be thankful you're not Mr. Yellow." It's great dialogue like this that make this movie that much more entertaining to watch.

Mr. Brown, who we don't see very much of, is played by Tarantino, and he's the wheel man. He waits patiently in the car for the rest of the crew to complete the job. Mr. Blonde, Mr. Blue, and Mr. Orange played by are crowd control. They keep everyone in check. "Someone steps out of line, smash the butt of your gun into the bridge of their nose. That will keep everyone too scared to be a hero." Just like Mr. Brown, we don't see too much of Mr. Blue either, but we see Mr. Blonde throughout. He's the crazy one. The man with no boss. The old term that someone has blood as cold as ice, well that's him. Calm, cool, calculated. Will he ruin the plan by going too far? Mr. White and Mr. Pink, played by Harvey Keitel and Steve Buscemi, are the men who'll take the manager to the back to get the stones. Mr. White plays the character that is lead by his emotions. All the decisions he makes seems to be based on emotions whether it be anger or empathy. Mr. Pink is the opposite. Rational. Straight to the point. Doesn't let emotions get in the way of making decisions, and he usually seems to be right.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world that he didn’t exist. New York. Five felons put into a line up for the theft of a truck load of gun parts bound for destruction. We have Dean Keaton, played by Gabriel Byrne, a former NY Police Officer who was kicked off the force and jailed for criminal activity and who is now trying to go straight. Then we have Michael McManus, played by Stephen Baldwin, the crazy one. He likes to stir things up, and doesn’t hesitate when it comes to violence or killing. Fred Fenster, played by Benicio Del Toro, is McManus’ right hand man. He’s a wise ass, slickster type with his unbuttoned shirts and slicked back hair. Next come Todd Hockney, played by Kevin Pollak, who cares for no one but himself. He’s good with bombs and afraid of no one. Rounding out this group of misfits is Verbal Kint, played by Kevin Spacey, who is a physically handicapped, zero confidence having man.

But what happens when you put a group of criminals together in one cell? They plan their next job, of course. They end up doing a job together and when it’s complete, they go to California to make the delivery and collect the payment. When the same people offer them another lucrative job offer will they take it? And will it be one job too many? Is there more going on than is being told? And who is behind the strange events that seem to keep occurring?

This is a complex story with a lot of turns that keeps you guessing throughout viewing. Written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer, this movie is meant to be entertaining and that it definitely is.

If the names Dignan, Zissou or Tenenbaum sound like alien attributions, then Wes Anderson must be just as foreign. If these names are in fact familiar, you be familiar with this director’s work and at least have a vague idea of his contributions to the independent film industry.

The closing of the 20th Century marked the initiation of Anderson’s film legacy. At the beginning, he created low-budget pictures that audiences could laugh at and relate to. He contributed to the foundation of independent film making recognized today through these characters and how he portrays life in a quirky, off-beat manner.

Anderson’s interest in film started when he was a kid according to an interview with the British Publication, the Guardian. He started filming homemade thrillers and trying to create pieces like Indiana Jones, Star Wars and his favorite filmmker, Alfred Hitchcock.
His first film for the silver screen started out as a short, which he co-wrote with his friend from the University of Texas, Owen Wilson. The humble beginning included Wilson in the role of the heist-wannabe, Dignan, and his younger brother Luke played Dignan’s friend Anthony.

Less of a caper comedy and more of a movie that reflects the light-hearted nature of its creators, “Bottle Rocket” is about nothing more than three guys trying to fill their time in their hometown. The cinematography is nothing fancy nor are the scenes, but the simplicity of the piece is what makes the film so relatable.

It was initially released at festivals like the Sundance Film Festival until James L. Brooks saw it and fueled the full production, which was released in 1996. Critics were generally approving of Anderson’s fresh take on film making and accepted the sporadic storyline.
“ ‘Bottle Rocket’ is entertaining if you understand exactly what it is: if you see it as a film made by friends out of the materials presented by their lives and with the freedom to not push too hard,” Roger Ebert reviewed. “Its fragile charm would have been destroyed by rewrites intended to pump it up or focus it; it needs to meander, to take time to listen to its dialogue, to slowly unveil character quirks, particularly Dignan's.”

Ebert predicted the creators’ next movie would be better, but called this a good start and encouraging for would-be filmmakers.
From this humble beginning, Anderson went on to create the 1998 comedy “Rushmore,” which began the extensive partnership between himself and comedian Bill Murray. Three years later Anderson collaborated with Murray and the Wilson brothers again to create “The Royal Tenenbaums.”

In his signature fashion, Anderson created a series of events tied together with idiosyncratic dialogue and likeable characters. This movie does set a precedent for him in the realm of character development. He takes risks with allowing them to change in drastic ways throughout the movie and following their changing interactions with the environment

Tenenbaums marked his first Oscar accolade, being nominated for best writing directly for the big screen. Also notable is his acquisition of well-known names for this movie like Ben Stiller, Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Danny Glover. The entire ensemble worked well together on screen to make each of the characters believable yet unique.

Many of these actors would continue to appear in future Anderson endeavors like “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou,” which casts Owen Wilson, Murray, and Huston.

The year 2007 marked his release of the full feature production “The Darjeeling Limited” and a short, “Hotel Chevalier,” which acts as a prologue to the first. Again, he staffs people he was familiar with and this time co-wrote with “Rusmore” star Jason Schwartzman.
Most recently, Anderson’s first animated feature, “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” in the 2010 Academy Awards. Based on a novel by Roald Dahl, Anderson again brings real-life stories to the screen in his charismatically odd way.

Though his career may not be as readily recognized as the works of Quentin Tarantino or Michael Moore for their riskiness, Anderson’s films bring just as much originality to the independent film industry. He covers dark subject matter, but in a light way and proved that quality humor can come in the form of a relaxed, easy-going movie. Anyone looking for a matter-of-fact series of movies that reflect a unique perspective on life should turn to Anderson and will be thrilled.

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Written By: Jamie Loftus

Written By: Claire Philipi

Written By: Jamie Loftus

When walking into “The Arbor”, one doesn’t expect anything radical; after all, it’s listed as a “documentary”, so one prepares themselves for two hours of voice-over footage over clips of this and that, leading to a heartwarming conclusion. It wasn’t until the movie began that I realized I had learned to expect all these tried-and-true techniques in a documentary, and the film was certainly able to put me in my place.

The story is not terribly complex, following the life of young playwright Andrea Dunbar, a British woman from the slums who is faced with the near impossible task of juggling success, single motherhood, and her losing battle with alcohol. However, her story ends less than halfway through the film when she dies of a brain hemorrhage (in none other than a pub) in 1990 at age twenty-nine; the focus then shifts, and we see how this death came to affect her three children.

Thanks to debut director Clio Barnard’s challenging of what a documentary is, this story transition is both seamless and engaging, straying as far as possible from typical Biography Channel fare. Barnard, who has directed several documentary shorts in the past but never a feature, spent two years gathering authentic interviews with those around Andrea—most importantly her eldest daughter Lorraine, whom the latter half of the film revolves around, but we are not subjected to face-on footage of Dunbar family members shifting awkwardly. Instead, Barnard introduces us to a staged reality, using the genuine audio of Andrea Dunbar’s family lip-synched by a series of actors. This accomplishes an aesthetic unheard of in most documentaries, using a variety of angles and lighting techniques to achieve emotive visual effects while still telling the story in an authentic way.

As the film progresses from coping with Andrea’s death to her daughter Lorraine’s forays into heroin addiction and ultimately the death of her addicted son Harris in 2007, Barnard digs into archival footage of Andrea Dunbar’s career to live performances of her most famous play, “The Arbor”, right in her hometown. These elements blended with the striking performances of the actors and a diminished reliance on music—how many times has a story been drowned out by emotive synth music?—and keeps the story moving. The play, which concerns a teenage mother coping with her alcoholic father, begins to parallel Lorraine’s life to spooky proportions as the story continues.

However, the most important character in “The Arbor” never says a word. This is the setting itself, a slum in Bradford, West Yorkshire at their home, Buttershire. For the Dunbars, all roads lead back to Buttershire whether in the racist, heroin-laden 1980’s or its current bleak, recovering image. Poverty is the norm and anyone who, like Lorraine, shares any heritage that is less than white is shamed and bullied. Barnard makes it clear that Lorraine faces this struggle alone, as her two siblings, Lisa and Andrew, were parented by white men, but still leaves it to the audience member to decide which Dunbar they side with. Lisa and Andrew resent their older sister for actively speaking out and blaming their mother Andrea for her problems later in life, while Lorraine sees it as simple fact. Barnard makes her point at the film’s climax in which Lorraine’s foster parents and partial caretaker for her lost son Harris break down—at the end of the day, pointing fingers will not make a difference. With unlikely beginnings, two-year-old Harris is a poignant reminder of the destructive results of poor parenting, and whether the fault lies in Lorraine or Andrea will not bring him back.

Clio Barnard has done extensive work in studying the construction of a documentary and what makes one effective, working as an installation artist for many years before she began to create documentaries herself. By being receptive and willing to entrench herself in the depths of the Dunbar family controversies while bearing in mind her personal knowledge of the documentary structure, Barnard is able to create a masterful, heartbreaking work that pioneers the field. “The Arbor” has won Clio Barnard the Douglas Hickox Award at the British Independent Film Awards, as well as a crop of nominations from BAFTA and the London Critics Circle Film Awards, acknowledging newcomer Manjinder Virk’s masterful playing of Lorraine Dunbar and Christine Bottomley’s equally moving portrayal of middle child Lisa Thompson. Released in 2010, “The Arbor” continues to make its rounds although it never received a wide theatrical release, remaining in Boston for a few weeks and then moving on to New York.

Written By: Brandon Stevenson

For a film that started with a budget of about five grand, Buried has gone quite far.

From landing well known star Ryan Reynolds in what is by far the best performance of his career, to gaining a slightly (sarcasm) larger budget of approximately 2 million and grossing nearly 20 million worldwide this film is sure to become the calling card for many of the obviously talented individuals involved in the production. I would imagine that the Director Rodrigo Cortés and writer Chris Sparling must be quite proud. While I would like to know how much of the budget went toward the actual production of the film and how much went toward Ryan Reynolds' salary, it is quite irrelevant as it is obvious that someone made great decisions based on the final product. Reynolds' performance is amazing and it isn't a stretch to say that he is the film. It is just over 90 minutes and the opening scene, closing scene and everything in the middle remain in the coffin with Paul Conroy, played by Reynolds.

For those that are already feeling claustrophobic watch this film at your own risk, the entire film remains inside of the coffin. While this is the most serious role of his career, it is not 100% smirk free. You may be curious how one would create a reason to laugh, smirk or create any form of comedy while buried alive. If I had not seen the movie, I would most likely be thinking the exact same thing as the mere thought of being buried alive is a scary enough premise to make me cringe. However, you must watch the film as I believe that revealing the quip would require far too much explanation and therefore result in spoilers.

While I watched this film last year in the cinemas it wasn't until my second watch, at home, on demand that I felt prepared to write about the film. Honestly, both viewing experiences were bothersome to me. Cortés has an ability to shoot this film in a way that keeps you interested from the very beginning. The writing by Chris Sparling is nothing short of incredible. Match that with Reynolds' acting chops that you never knew he had and you've got yourself a movie. One that could easily have you attempting to tell the television what you want to happen next.

After writing an article that relentlessly pitches the film, I will say that I don't believe it is flawless. There is one small detail that bothers me. However, yet again this revelation, I feel, would result in another potential spoiler and I am not willing to approach that possibility.

That being said, those of you who are looking for something rare in the days of explosions and special effects should watch Buried during your next movie night. This Hitchcock-influenced piece of cinema is created by matching a character driven story that is nearly non-existent in modern films with camera angles and lighting that will entertain you in a way that no other coffin-based experience will.