Barbershop
(***1/2)
review by Ryan Burg
This film focuses on Calvin (Ice Cube), a third generation barbershop owner
who wants to be rich and successful but is instead stuck in his father's rut.
As Calvin awakens to the valuable shoes he fills within his community, an elaborate
caper-gone-wrong progresses in the background, eventually winding itself into
the main plot. This is Director Tim Story's "studio-driven directorial
debut," though his two independent films (One of Us Tripped and The Firing
Squad) were acclaimed within black film circles. Story has also directed many
music videos for some of today's worst acts ('N Sync).
I thought this film was amazing. Barbershop manages to make you laugh while
expressing a somewhat heavy-handed moral message. The performances were on par
with most large production movies. Ice cube leaves behind his Friday role and
tries on a more pensive character. Cube's performance was fine, but Cedric the
Entertainer carried the show as Eddie, an opinionated old barber.
As is often my position, I enjoyed this film for the entertainment but loved
it for the moral content. In the Western tradition, works bearing morals go
back far beyond Plutarch and Aeschylus, yet it is the black art scene that carries
on this vibrant tradition. Addison Gayle called for art that would improve its
audience and termed his value judgments "The Black Aesthetic." Gayle
proposed that art be judged by "the transformation from ugliness to beauty
that the work of art demands from its audience." Under this Aesthetic (which
I happen to be very fond of), Barbershop is all the more wonderful. If you are
interested in this type of film, also check out A Soldier's Story.
Please do not see a black film in a stodgy, white, suburban theater. They are
not written for that viewing experience. I saw Barbershop in West Philadelphia.
As one of two or three white people in the whole house, it was an experience
to remember. In this atmosphere, you will learn as much from the audience as
you will from the film. Props go out to any Chicago film, but especially this
one.
respond to burg@sas.upenn.edu