141.
Patti Cake$
6/10
The film that won massive claims and a few awards at smaller film festivals but is this film worth the watch? A film centred around a female rapper trying to make it to glory, with the struggles of her home life and downtrodden hometown. This could go one of two ways. It could simply be a female version of 8 Mile or never be on the same level. Will it be set for stardom or choke when it gets centre stage?
Surely, it would be dreaming of being on the level of 8 Mile and that's just how this film starts. Focusing on the storyline first off, we have a female, dreaming that she is walking through the clouds and out to her audience, as she begins to rap. She wakes up and we see the same person that introduced her to the stage, is a focus of her bedroom posters. She is clearly focused on imagining her life away from where she is right now. Her mother is a washed-up singer, divorced and sleeping around with any man. Her nan is living at home with them and seems to have an illness, probably brought about by chronic smoking and she has a part time job at the local bar. The film gives up a few credits along with images of this growing up, each picture changing when there is a beat in the music. Her friend, an Indian lad who works at the local pharmacy, is trying his best to get their name out there, get gigs and all with the intent of making it huge. They sit on a car bonnet, from their home town, looking at the big city across the water, hoping one day to make it. He bangs a beat on the bonnet and she finally begins to rap along. Back at her bar work, her mum walks in all dolled up and jumps on the karaoke. Patti watches with interest and listen to all of the lyrics, which can be linked with the details to their lives. The scene cuts to the mother being sick in the toilet and soon Patti and Jheri are heading to a small gig to see some local rappers perform. The act after them is an African American, who plays a hard rock song about people being sheep. This guy is called Basterd and after the show, is very reluctant to talk to Patti about his music and rides away on his bike. From the trailer, we already know that she will work with him on her music so that's a bit of a spoiler.
After the show, the rappers from earlier are having a battle in a petrol station's car park. Patti gets chucked in the middle and the first thought is that she will choke. After a few cringe worthy seconds, she actually lays down some bars and impresses, but this isn't a good thing. Danny, the main rapper starts to get personal, but fair enough, she hits some back. She humiliates him so the guy simply headbutts her. A cop shows up and splits up the crew, Basterd can be seen in the background too. She doesn't grass up Danny and when the cop sees her ID, she realises that he knows her mother and that she was very talented. He wasn't to give her his number because he needs a singer for his band. Patti clearly gets on with her Nan more than her mother and this is a theme throughout. Patti and Jheri get a gig to record some music but smoking weed ruins the plans and they head home. Next Patti spends the day with Nana. Her mother has already had an argument with her and after a bit too much wine, tells her daughter, that she was a mistake. Patti and Nana head to the graveyard and again, Basterd pops up but this time Patti follows him. Nana is outers, so she follows him through a tunnel know as, 'the gates to hell'. She comes across a wooden hut and straight up walks in. Basterd is there, looking shocked at the intruder, obviously. She has already called Jheri to meet her there and in he walks too. Basterd ends up kicking them bout out after Jheri acts a bit of knob. Patti pleads for him to make music with him and they do, even with Nana waking and adding to the track as well. They call themselves PBNJ. This is clearly their initials put together but will they add lyrics to accommodate peanut butter and jelly?
Patti makes it home and sees a cop car outside, figuring that her mother has another DUI. No no, the copper is there to serenade her mother. On a lighter note, she is offered a new job with a catering service. My first thought would be that some sort of huge gig will land on the same day as her first shift or something. She first works a Jewish ceremony, where she speaks to a well know DJ, who she hands her CD over to, hoping that this fellow female, will give her the light of day There is soon a montage of her burning herself out through, work and the need to sell her CDs. Even Danny got one. Suddenly, things take a turn for the worse and Nana gets really ill. Maybe she's going to use this extra money that she has made to pay the hospital bills. She lands another job with the catering company and this time it's in her favourite rapper's house. She finds her way down to his room and raps from behind, so that he doesn't see her image. She is an overweight, white girl, which won't go down well with this guy. As she walks towards him, there is sort of heavenly music, maybe indicating that this guy is her saviour. It doesn't turn out that way and he insults her, causing her to leave and the boss fires her. The trio have a gig at the local strip club but Patti's head isn't in it. She storms off and goes to clear her mind. At the same time, her mother is performing with the police and gets too into her roll, falling off the bar and spraining her ankle. She now becomes chair bound, just like Nana. Patti get to the hospital to find her mum sitting in the empty bed. Nana has died, her one friend in the family. Things aren't going well, with the copper leaving the mother, Patti getting fired and then quitting her job at the bar when one of the locals takes her raps onto the mic and reads them mockingly. There is the usual scene of the gang splitting up for a while, which will inevitably end with them back together by the end.
Patti and her mother are back home and Patti's phone rings. The mother is sitting slumped in the chair, as the Nan once did. She looks depressed now. She instantly thinks, that with the bad luck she has had recently, that it is someone winding her up. The caller tells her that she listened to her CD and she liked it. She has entered Patti into a competition and it turns out that this person is the DJ that she handed a CD to when working at the Jewish party. She asks her mum to come and watch her for once. She finally has her confidence back and heads to make amends with her friends. She walks to them like a music video or dream with offset colours and music playing alongside. First is Basterd, who she catches, just before he sets off to leave the city. Her reveals his real name before becoming her love interest as the two get down to the naughties. She wakes up to find her has gone and then heads to the pharmacy. Reconciling with Jheri, he finally agrees to work the competition. He also lets her know that he knows that her and Basterd have a thing going on. Patti goes for one final boast of confidence at her Nan's grave. There, we are reintroduced to Basterd, now going by the name Bob. He's gotten rid of his devilish look, piercings, contact lens, cut his hair and seems more at peace. He takes Patti to his mother's grave and tells her all about her. As Patti gets home, she notices that her mother has chucked out a vinyl that she once made in a band. They head to Newark for the completion and her once idol is up in the viewing section. We cut back home and the mother is looking at old photos of her daughter, picking up a necklace that says Kill P and also the ad for the competition. Patti is impressed by the other rappers but finally it's her turn, this won't be the moment that she chokes. She is seen in the toilet, in kind of an 8 Mile scene, knees weak, arms maybe heavy? As she beings, we see her mother walk in and it's too obvious that she will sample her mother's song. She does and smashes it. Even her mother joins in on the mic for the part she once sung years before. The two finally become more connected and although Patti doesn't win, there is still the feeling of a happy ending. By the end, the performing trio are back at their hangout spot, which overlooks the big city. Once again dreaming that one day they could make it, with the radio playing, the female DJ that entered Patti actually plays her song on the radio and we get to here Nana's voice once again.
That was a bit of a predictable one. The film wasn't really original and could follow any sort of conventional, underdog story regarding singing. The film cries of a typical youth wanting to chase their dream, getting shot down by the establishment, only to be able to rise again through the hard work and can-do attitude. Yet again, it seemed like a cry for feminism, as seems to be the trend right now, with this underrated white, heavy set girl from the suburbs, trying to go against any sort of stereotype in this narrow world of music. Although the film didn't really have the usual happy ending that could have been expected, there was a sense of triumph by the end.
Patti and her mother are back home and Patti's phone rings. The mother is sitting slumped in the chair, as the Nan once did. She looks depressed now. She instantly thinks, that with the bad luck she has had recently, that it is someone winding her up. The caller tells her that she listened to her CD and she liked it. She has entered Patti into a competition and it turns out that this person is the DJ that she handed a CD to when working at the Jewish party. She asks her mum to come and watch her for once. She finally has her confidence back and heads to make amends with her friends. She walks to them like a music video or dream with offset colours and music playing alongside. First is Basterd, who she catches, just before he sets off to leave the city. Her reveals his real name before becoming her love interest as the two get down to the naughties. She wakes up to find her has gone and then heads to the pharmacy. Reconciling with Jheri, he finally agrees to work the competition. He also lets her know that he knows that her and Basterd have a thing going on. Patti goes for one final boast of confidence at her Nan's grave. There, we are reintroduced to Basterd, now going by the name Bob. He's gotten rid of his devilish look, piercings, contact lens, cut his hair and seems more at peace. He takes Patti to his mother's grave and tells her all about her. As Patti gets home, she notices that her mother has chucked out a vinyl that she once made in a band. They head to Newark for the completion and her once idol is up in the viewing section. We cut back home and the mother is looking at old photos of her daughter, picking up a necklace that says Kill P and also the ad for the competition. Patti is impressed by the other rappers but finally it's her turn, this won't be the moment that she chokes. She is seen in the toilet, in kind of an 8 Mile scene, knees weak, arms maybe heavy? As she beings, we see her mother walk in and it's too obvious that she will sample her mother's song. She does and smashes it. Even her mother joins in on the mic for the part she once sung years before. The two finally become more connected and although Patti doesn't win, there is still the feeling of a happy ending. By the end, the performing trio are back at their hangout spot, which overlooks the big city. Once again dreaming that one day they could make it, with the radio playing, the female DJ that entered Patti actually plays her song on the radio and we get to here Nana's voice once again.
That was a bit of a predictable one. The film wasn't really original and could follow any sort of conventional, underdog story regarding singing. The film cries of a typical youth wanting to chase their dream, getting shot down by the establishment, only to be able to rise again through the hard work and can-do attitude. Yet again, it seemed like a cry for feminism, as seems to be the trend right now, with this underrated white, heavy set girl from the suburbs, trying to go against any sort of stereotype in this narrow world of music. Although the film didn't really have the usual happy ending that could have been expected, there was a sense of triumph by the end.
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