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In honor of hip-hops 50th anniversary, were republishing our 2020 review of Wild Style.
For more on raps best process documentaries,head here.
It was at the Times Square Show that Ahearn met budding artist Fred Brathwaite, a.k.a.
Fab 5 Freddy (later to becomethe first host ofYo!
All that is probably whyWild Styleoften feels more like a documentary than a fictional drama.
The story feels at times like a series of familiar setups without much follow-through.
Any other movie would stretch these various subplots out, mining them for narrative tension and moral messaging.
Dreams would be dashed, plans would be thwarted, friendships would be betrayed, romances shattered.
Someone would get arrested, or killed, or at least shot.
And of course, the blasted, decaying backdrop of the Bronx would somehow scuttle everyones dreams and desires.
But no such thing happens inWild Style.
The world drifts along as in a Zen dream.
And thats where the films own artistry lies.
Theres a warmth and inclusiveness toWild Stylethat makes you want to step into this universe.
But their communitarian ethos flies against that idea.
And so, too, is everyone else.
The guys with the mics rhyme not from a proscenium, but amidst the crowd.
But it is this very aesthetic approach that makes the film so compelling and unique.
If the scene were more polished, it would look ridiculous like a tacky attempt to updateWest Side Story.
(Beat StreetandBreakincame out in 1984.
Something similar happened in the United Kingdom and across Scandinavia.
After a restoration and re-release in 2007, the film would become better known and more widely available.
But that would be, perhaps, to undersell what makes it so special.
