Rize - movie poster 2005 Photo

Rize

Starring: Tommy the Clown, Lil Tommy, Larry, Lil C, Dragon

Directed by: David LaChapelle

RS: 3of 4 Stars

2005 Lions Gate Films Drama

David LaChapelle is best known as a photographer. Rize, a documentary like no other, reveals a born filmmaker. His subject is krumping, a hip-hop dance phenom so kinetic you'll swear that the frames of the film have been speeded up (they haven't). He explains how krumping had its roots in a clown act devised by Tommy Johnson in South Central Los Angeles in 1992, the year of the Rodney King riots. He reveals how it developed into a gyrating dance that became an expression of sex, anger, need, competition and cultural identity. He shows krumping as untamed life. There's no way to take your eyes off it.