B-Girl, staring Lady Jules
The latest genre film about breakdancing was screened to a packed house at Anthology Film Archives in New York City. It lands in Austin, TX this Friday.
B-Girl
The protagonist in B-Girl, (played by real-world dancer Lady Jules) is a white, ’round the way girl named Angel, who has to leave Brooklyn and move to LA in order to get away from an abusive, homicidal boyfriend who knifed her and killed her best friend in a jealous rage, in a story not too unlike thousands lived every day by young women all over the country, and the world. Luckily for Angel, there are b-boys and b-girls on both coasts – not to mention the heartland, where Lady Jules actually grew up – and Angel quickly finds her way into a new all-male crew, comprised of real life b-boy luminaries Flea Rock, Legacy and Flipz.
To give a little flavor to the role, Angel is given an Hispanic grandmother, making her one quarter Latina, or not just all-White. America is sorta used to seeing Whites in its lead roles, and B-Girl doesn’t make an exception to this rule, although it honestly depicts the sometimes gritty experience of plenty of White kids, ala 8 Mile, who are drawn to the culture. Angel’s Mom seems likely to have been a teen pregnancy statistic, and her Grandmother looks pretty young, too. Jules joins the tradition of older actors playing younger roles (Emma Thompson in Sense and Sensibility, Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate, the entire cast of Grease, etc.) which requires some suspension of disbelief, but the story’s elements ring true. Angela’s father never factors in to this story, and he is not even noted by his absence. Her Latina grandmother takes Angel and her mother in, providing an older, wiser maternal influence as three generations of women try to survive and stay up in the face of harsh realities. Grandma uses the church, Mom uses the bottle, and Angel uses dancing. And dancing is the real payoff of this movie; excellent moves and routines are captured through great camera work in powerful scenes which evoke the vibrant life-force Angela feels when she is breaking, and effectively contrasts the drab interiors of low level office work and uninspiring community college courses.
There is no Hollywood ending, just the eternally relevant story of perseverance, and not letting anybody stand in your way as you pursue whatever makes you feel alive inside and makes life worth living.
B-Girl Audience Q&A videos by Derori Gila Loral
Lady Jules @ the Afterparty
B-Girl writer/director Emily Dell @ Afterparty
The Austin, Texas screening is this Friday, with a Q & A and afterparty, and they’ll be coming to San Francisco on January 23rd.
B-GIRL SCREENING in AUSTIN, TX
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 8:00pm (doors 7:00pm)
Independent 501 Studios
501 Studios – 501 I-35 78702
Q&A to Follow
B-GIRL FREE AFTERPARTY (same location)
10:00pm – 3:00am
FREE with screening ($5 without)
Featuring ATX BBoy City DJs:
El Chorizo Funk, Silent Roob & Cause One
Hosted by Romeo Navarro (InsideTheCircle),
B-Girl DeeNice, and the Bboy City Team
B-GIRL SCREENING in SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010 3pm (doors 2:30pm)
Roxie Theater
3117 16th Street (between Valencia and Albion)
San Francisco, CA
Q&A with Director/Writer Emily Dell and Producer Elizabeth Dell
Tickets available online at www.bgirlmovie.com/events
Group tickets also available (10+), email rsvp@bgirlmovie.com for group sales
Check out the cast list:
Oren ‘Flearock’ Michaeli, Keith ‘Remedy’ Stallworth, Richard ‘Steelo’ Vasquez, Edmundo ‘Poe One’ Loayza, DJ Quixotic, Bradley ‘Shooz’ Rapier, Jacob ‘KuJo’ Lyons, Jesse ‘Casper’ Brown, DJ Ranata, Jaime ‘Venum’ Brugos III, Oscar ‘Wonder’ Ledezma, Josh ‘Incredible’ Ortiz, Marcelino ‘React’ Pardo, Moises ‘Moy’ Rivas, Philip ‘Spee-D’ Albequerque, Rynan ‘Kid Rainen’ Paguio, Josh ‘Milky’ Ayers
[...] devastating attack. Jules, writer/director Emily Dell, and producer Elizabeth Dell sat down for a Q&A after the film’s New York screening. Urb also has interviews with Jules and Emily Dell at [...]