Hustle and Flow

Last night, we watched Hustle and Flow, which I'd thought I'd hate. My preconceived notion was: preachy, clichéd “message” movie. Untrue. This is a great movie, with not one wasted line of dialogue and a amazing performances from every member of the cast. Even Taryn Manning. (Her delivery of her lines outside the musical instrument store was captivating.) I think Oscars and other awards for actors, movies, music, musicians, etc. are bogus and misdirected, but... since it's a nice way to say Terrence Howard is AT LEAST in the top five, I'll say that he should get an Oscar nomination for his role in this movie. It must have been a son of a bitch to prepare for and keep inside of. He was dazzling in this.

But that's not what I wanted to write about. I wanted to mention that I was blown away by the original score, composed by Scott Bomar. It was like an aural history of the common motifs of rock and roll, shot through the prism of the Stax studio sound. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like any of these performances are available anywhere but in the film / on the DVD itself. I hope they release these tracks on CD. They are SO worth hearing over and over again. To have the incidental music stand out -- even shine -- like it does in a film devoted to musical (hip hop) performances says a lot about Bomar's talent as a composer and the chops of the old Stax guys.

P.S. Since I'm now a big fan of Scott Bomar's, and I've always been crazy about William Bell, here's a picture of the two men together in September 2005. I found it on Bomar's site.

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[posted with ecto]

On iTunes right now: “Gun In Mouth Blues” from the album Life Time by Rollins Band