Hustle & Flow - 6

This is the story of a Memphis pimp who wants to follow his dream to make rap music. I haven't seen 50 Cent's film, but I imagine that it is nothing like this film. This film is much more down to earth, it is about the struggle involved in understanding ones life and wanting more, to know that you are doing something meaningful. I found the first part of the film the most interesting as DJay, played by Howard Terrence, goes into a crisis and is looking at his life and starts to understand the emptiness of it. Terrence give another great performance, along with his other 2005 films Crash and Four Brothers. I like the realism of the film, it is not overly depressing, but also not unrealistic by having everything go right for the characters all the time, this film understands the brokenness of peoples lives.
The film was written and directed by Craig Brewer. Which made funding issues interesting because he is white and the story is about black urban Memphis. John Singleton finally just put up the money for it to be made.