Day 202 Patti
Cake$ [2017]
Screenplay Geremy Jasper
Director Geremy Jasper
Cinematography Federico Cesca
Leads Danielle
Macdonald, Bridget Everett, Siddharth Dhananjay, Mamoudou Athie, McCaul
Lombardi, Cathy Moriarty
Music Jason
Binnick & Geremy Production
Production JasperRT Features, Stay Gold Features, The
Department of Motion Pictures
IMDb 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes 83%
Here
comes New Jersey’s very own 8 Mile from music video maestro Geremy
Jasper producing his first feature. After solid reviews at Sundance and a
friend of mine telling me ‘it’s actually quite good’, I felt I should watch it
when it popped up in the ‘recently added’ section of Sky Cinema. The
protagonist is Patricia Dombrowski (Macdonald) A.K.A. Patti, Killa P or, the name
often used to insult her due to her weight problem, Dumbo. She is an aspiring
rapper, I would guess around twenty-one years old, who lives with her mother Barb
(Everett) and her disabled grandma (Moriarty) in their small NJ apartment. Patti
works low-wage jobs to help pay off her grandma’s medical bills, but spends her
spare time hanging out with her optimistic friend Jheri (Dhananjay) who also
has dreams of making it big in the world of hip-hop. At some point along the
way the duo meets introverted anarchist Basterd (Athie), who helps Patti and
Jheri produce a track, as although they are both talented vocalists, they need
Basterd to bring some quality production. Apart from it not being based on a
true story, the film continues along that familiar path (see 8 Mile,
Notorious, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, Straight Outta Compton etc. etc.) of PBNJ
(Patti, Basterd, Nan & Jheri) trying to make it in the local NJ rap scene.
I
guess what you’re all wondering is whether she is any good. It’s personal
preference at the end of the day, but she wasn’t too bad. She sounded similar
to Iggy Azalea – which is probably a bad thing, but also proves that it’s tough
to make it as a white female rapper. I would not listen to PBNJ – their demo
was crap and it meant I didn’t want them to succeed as much I was supposed to.
The best parts of the film came from the realities of Patti’s life. Her struggles
at work, trouble being bullied and the turbulent relationship with her mother. In
a year with brilliant films about mother-daughter relationships such as Lady
Bird (Day 75) and I, Tonya (Day 72), Patti Cake$ also gave us
a wonderful dynamic between mother and child. Barb resents Patti as a mistake that
cost her a music career. They therefore have a love-hate relationship where Patti
loathes her mother and yet her dream to rap is a result of looking up to Barb’s
musical talent. Oedipus and all that. One of the closing scenes also proves
that parents in films are never able to show up on time for big performances,
like in School of Rock, Barb conveniently shows up right in the middle
of Patti’s song and miraculously gets to the front of the crowd. I need some
tips from her before my next festival. I wasn’t too sure about Basterd’s
character. He was supposed to be an anarchist, loner type, singing about how people
were all sheep. And yet his aesthetic was exactly the same as many of today’s
mumble rappers and popular musicians. If that was a purposeful jibe at said
rappers for being sheep from Jasper then I take my hat off to him, but I don’t
think it’s that kind of film.
It
was your stereotypical loser vs the world plot that attempts to get you to root
for the little person. I enjoyed the music video style and dream sequences,
which made it less of moody rags-to-riches story. It felt fresh and provided
more relatable, modern dialogue between characters who wouldn’t normally appear
in the Hollywood recipe. The most convincing and emotional sections of the film
all involved Barb and Patti’s underlying resentment for each other, and it was those
moments which saved the film, as I often found myself turning the volume down.
Acting 3.5 / 4
Writing 3 / 4
Cinematography 3 / 4
Music 2.5 / 4
HWF rating 3 / 4
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