What part of “Filly Brown” sounds Latina to you? Curious handle for a ‘hood chica, no? The theme of Filly Brown is a girl staying true to her ethnic roots while trying to make it notsmall behind the mic. I guess staying verdad to your barrio es en el ojo del beholder. “Filly” is the stage name for protagonist Majo (Gina Rodriguez), a tough street gal of fluctuating values who dresses like Meg from “Family Guy.” Majo has talent in the spoken arts and chooses to use it in order to spring mom (Jenni Rivera) from the big house.
The power of a gritty extended music video, as we’ve seen in 8 Mile, lies within the integrity of the hero(ine). And the more the movie progresses, the less Majo shows. Sans regard for law or friendship, she will break laws willy nilly, assume any persona favorable to the next five-minute outcome and sell out her posse to achieve the goal of grabbing that magical “get out of jail free” card. Even her words proclaiming tough street bitchiness with intuitive Hispanic savvy don’t ring true – they weren’t written by her. Thus, I’m left with kind of an empty feeling; honoring combative verse [read: rap] as an art form treads a very thin line as is. The medium so often calls the attention of the glory- or respect-seeking individual without any recognition of forces one might discover when one is beyond the emotional age of an 8-year-old. I honestly think this brand of self-aggrandizing verbal masturbation is akin to watching a dunk or home run hitting contest. Some of it
will make you “ahhh!” sure, but the skill set by itself exists mostly for personal trumpeting and, after a short while, seems extremely repetitive. When we explore the idea that Filly herself hasn’t even written the self-reflective straight-from-the-hood rap which promotes her to local star, the feeling of working-the-system rather than fighting-the-system comes across loud and clear. Does it really matter where the lyrics come from? If the battle is your story and the story isn’t yours, why am I watching this at all?
There’s only so far you can go with a so-so protagonist and a one-dimensional plot. You could say the same thing about Amour and I’d say, “yeah, I didn’t like that one, either.” I’d love to see a Latino film which doesn’t follow either a mob or family support themed routine. It wouldn’t kill you to lighten the mood, either. People want to have fun at the movies. Pretty sure that includes Hispanics.
Filly reunites former names Lou Diamond Phillips and Edward James Olmos (whose son Michael D. Olmost directed this film by himself) in supporting roles. Boy, that brings back fond memories — Stand and Deliver was one of the best naps I ever had.
An East LA rapper named Filly
Believes she’s got talent. Oh, really?
She lays down the beat
Not much of a treat
Hey, La Bamba! This plot is just silly.
Rated R, 99 Minutes
D: Youssef Delara, Michael D. Olmos
W: Youssef Delara
Genre: Street
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: that misunderstood hiphop artist who’s just trying to do good while making some bad choices but deserves better even though he/she is a serial user. That about right?
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: The people rap stars abuse
