Thursday, March 26, 2015

Rick Famuyiwa's 'Dope' Teaser Trailer #1

I had named Rick Famuyiwa's Dope as one of my most anticipated films to see at Sundance Film Festival. Needless to say, it was DOPE (obvi)! I had a hell of a great time watching Famuyiwa's personal take on his experience growing up in Inglewood come alive with such vibrance, swag, and hilarity! It follows the story of a modern-day nerd named Malcolm (played by super hot newcomer, Shameik Moore) who's obsessed with 90's hip-hop culture and all the crazy shit he gets himself into. As a LA native, it hit me with all the right kind of feels of 90's throwback,  socal sun-kissed terrain, and poignant reflection of not being "racially-something" enough. 

Unlike most trailers that have been released, Famuyiwa takes a different and refreshing approach to the first trailer of Dope, which embodies what he calls "a throwback to traditional teasers." He wanted the trailer to look like something Malcolm had cut and pasted the trailer himself and the results are so so so fresh! Mixing animation, social media interfaces, and 8-bit video game tib-bits from the film, the trailer shows you just enough of how freaking dope this film is going to be! You've never seen a story like this before that honed in on the African American experience with such nuance,  provocative energy, and explosive style with a millennial sensibility. So get hypy! Dope comes out June 19th!