Patti Cake$ Dir: Geremy Jasper

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Starring: Danielle MacDonald, McCaul Lombardi 

Forget about your mum’s spaghetti, Patti Cake$ is a funnier and more heartfelt rap-to-riches tale thanks to it’s big, bad-ass breakout star.

If you’ve seen Florence + The Machine’s Dog Days are Over clip you know music video maestro Geremy Jasper has an knack for colourful visuals, but who knew he could write not only a decent script but damn catchy tracks too?

His first feature is an assured debut, no wonder as it’s as autobiographical as it gets from a former chubby kid who was once stuck in New Jersey writing rap like his Patti Cake$ protaginist. His screenwriting was honed at the Sundance Institute with guidance from one of his inspirations, Quentin Tarantino.

And what an underdog story you can get behind. Avoiding some of the clichés and the gritty seriousness of 8 Mile, Jasper injects Patti Cake$ with plenty of humour and heart.

This is helped by his oddball assortment of supporting characters. Newcomer Siddarth Dhananjay is hilarious as Patti’s right hand Indian in a do-rag Jheri AKA Jheromeo, who was making parody rap videos on WorldstarHipHop until Jasper discovered him.

You might recognise Mamoudou Athie from The Get Down under all his anti-establishment getup, and rounding out the unlikely hip-hop outfit is Oscar-nominated character actress Cathy Moriarty (Raging Bull). A crack up as Patti’s nan who drops beats like “F*cking Barbara Striesand”.

But it’s Australian Danielle MacDonald who’s the breakout star. AKA Killa P, AKA Patti Cake$ and AKA Dumbo by street bullies, Patricia Dombrowski is the aspiring titular rapper straight outta New Jersey, battling haters and her alcoholic mother in search of hip-hop stardom. MacDonald brings the house down delivering elaborate rhymes with a raw energy, surprisingly as she didn’t know how to rap, spending two years practising before the cameras rolled.

But what electric tracks. Jasper a former musician himself wrote 15 songs as well as the score for the film, including infectious ear-worms like PBnJ, My Life is Fucking Awesome and the insiprational closer Tuff Love. And he mixes up the soundtrack with power ballads belted out by cabaret comedian Bridget Everett (Inside Amy Schumer), who plays Patti’s mother.

Receiving two standing ovations at Sundance, the film earned the 2nd biggest deal of the festival picked up for US$9.5 million by Fox Searchlight.

While there’s the odd false note in the finale, Patti Cake$ is an absolute crowd-pleaser and heralds thrilling new talent in director Geremy Jasper and star Danielle MacDonald. Lose yourself in it’s plus-sized heart.

Clayton Barnett (https://www.youtube.com/user/claymonster22/videos)

NZIFF page: https://www.nziff.co.nz/2017/auckland/patti-cakes/

 

 

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