Rise: Movie & DVD Review (2005)

(Originally published 2005)

From David LaChapelle, a terrific documentary about a subset of hip-hop culture born out of the Rodney King riots of 1992.

Set in present-day South Central Los Angeles, the movie exposes a thrilling, underground dance form called “krumping," which finds its soul steeped in African dance, a clown act devised by Tommy Johnson, and the need for self-expression that uses the body as a weapon far deadlier (and sexier) than any gun.

The movie and the young people within it are in the moment, with the latter pressing against their oppression by tapping into something akin to a religious experience.

An unusual movie whose energy lingers.

Grade: A-