Director: Neil Drummings
Running Time: 94 minutes
Starring: Dorian Missick, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Darien Sills-Evans, Yaya Alafia, Zachary Booth, Jan Grae, Amir Arison.
Synopsis: Members of a once-promising hip-hop group, now in their late 30’s, struggle with regret, disappointment, and change on Election Night 2008.
BIG WORDS is a story that we have all related to somewhere down the line. It follows three 30-somethings who once were members of a hip-hop group named DLP (Down Low Poets), who are now reminiscing about the good old days on the eve of Barack Obama’s historic election win. They’ve all taken different paths in life: James aka “Jayvee Da Mac” (Gbenga Akinnagbe) has decided to leave his rap past behind him, and now has a good job but finds himself under pressure to be the perfect out and proud man alongside his boyfriend. Terry, aka “Dj Malik” (Darien Sills-Evans) is still desperately clinging onto the past and lastly John, known as “Big Words” (Dorian Missick) tries his best to forget about his job by working in IT, but finds himself making up rhymes in his head.
It could have been easy for the movie to fall back on its time and place, but surprisingly there is not a voting montage or “Yes We Can” speech in sight. It’s all about the characters and we get to know each member’s story through wonderfully paced dialogue and slow but intriguing character development.
Zachary Booth plays the bright-eyed Ben Shine, the son of DLP’s publicist Ike Shine, who discover his boss James was a member and wants to hear stories of his father’s past and the story that will really keep you interested is John and Annie (Yaya Alafia). Alafia and Missick perfectly bounce off each other, creating a wonderful balance between the bright-eyed upstart from Annie and the knocked back-artist from John.
Neil Drumming’s directorial debut is a noble and solid effort, and an utterly enjoyable watch. Aesthetically simple, it makes sure that the dialogue does the talking with nothing to hide behind but a great story. Sure, it does have its teething problems, but BIG WORDS is a refreshing take on the “what could have been” genre and leaves preachy elements on the back-burner. As this is only Drumming’s first film, we’re absolutely excited for what’s next!
[usr=4] BIG WORDS is currently showing at BFI Flare. Keep it THN for more coverage.
