Just peeped out a film called the Whackness. It's about a kid living in NYC in 1994. The Whackness follows Lucas Shapiro in the summer of 1994. He sells weed and listens to dope ass hip-hop. This movie speaks out to those who always felt like they weren't a part of the "popular norm."
From a Community perspective this film is a comedy, a very damn funny view on how young kids who start dealing with chics could feel things like "the end of the world" when they get their hearts broken. I've been there and this film had me chuckling at how young indeed I was in dealing with girls. Lucas (as did the rest of the cast, and director) did a great job at portraying that "innocent youth" persona who gets his heart broken and feels like he can't go on with life anymore. Depression can strike at any moment.
PLOT:
Smoking weed back then was def looked upon as a "You're going straight to hell" stigma, so you can only imagine how selling it would have multiplied that feeling (now selling weed is looked upon with more savvy, almost like making arts and crafts).
Notorious B.I.G's Ready to Die album just dropped and was recieving mad love in the Streets of NYC. Rudy G was busy cleaning the streets arresting everyone and anything (but he was cleaning up the streets).
Lucas is graffiti writing Hip-Hop listening loner who sells weed. He's a master at selling weed. One of his clients is a pychiatrist name Dr. Jeffrey Squires. Lucas trades Squires weed for time on the Shrink couch. At the begginning of the film we hear Lucas telling squires about his frustrations with not being able to "get laid" and other typical Adolescent issues that, to the older more matured person, sound so trivial and hilarious. But we were all there once upon a time, and it's probably safe to say, those people like Lucas who actually had someone as professional and sincere like Dr. Squires, were actually the lucky ones.
So true that saying: It's not about what you know, it's about who you know and what they know ;-)
Lucas lives the typical middle class up bringing: Single child of two loving parents who only want the best for him. We soon see that Lucas has his life more under control than his parents who don't ever seem to stop arguing about money and bills.
In his quest to figure out "life" Lucas starts hanging out with Dr. Squires (who is also having issues at home with his family...he has a wife who does not appreciate him....the love is gone).
Lucas aslso starts selling alot more weed in order to secretly try and help his parents from losing their apt in the upper east side of manhattan. The whole summer is spent with him walking around NYC with his makeshift icecream cart (which actually has tons of weed in it) selling to loyal customers.
The feel of the film:
The Whackness, though portraying a negative aspect on marriage and old age, is a very positive film. You can't help but feel that the world IS a very friendly and safe place (the best example is that Lucas never ever has any issues with the law fucking with him while he's selling or people trying to rob or steal from him....and that's a good thing because you can totally get that he's a smart enough kid to keep away from the bad apples....which is why is able to be so successful at what he does.)
All the people he sells to are normal human beings who have hearts and issues like everyone else.
Heart Break:
That summer of 1994 Lucas falls for Dr. Squire's step daughter Stephanie. And when you know about the community it's no surprise why. For starters Stephanie is part of the "cool" group in Lucas' high school. Lucas is part of the loners who have no friends. He only has access to the cool kids because of the weed he sells them, so they let him come to their parties. He's almost giddy and shocked when Stephanie tells him to take her number down so they can hang out for purposes other than weed. She ends up breaking his heart and in the end we see how much of a "good thing" that was. The whole point of this movie, I believe, is to get those adventures/experiences that one can only have through interacting with others. As in you gotta get out there and "fuck up" alot. Experimenting is all about...experimenting.
Society norms like to put a horrible look on Experimenting and they like to paint pictures of kids doing heroin and getting aids as form of "look what happened when they decided to experiment" but that's a huge exhageration which in turn makes kids pussy out and not try to get out there and experiment with life.
A great example of this is the whole "don't talk to strangers" saying. My parents used to always tell me this to where I simply thought that EVERY stranger was an evil person. It's a fine line to that and now I realize that every friend I have used to be a Stranger. If you're a responsible person brought up on the principles of Respect, honesty, and integrity then you'll understand which of those people it is that you want to spend your time and energy with. It's a fine line indeed.
Good points in the film:
- Lucas and Squires out at a bar kicking it.
You realize that life is all about interacting with others and having a good time.
- Cassette mix tapes
damn, those were the days (now I make podcast mixes...but there's something so romantic about the cassette tape...dope ;-)
- Hanging out with chicks, getting your heart broken, selling weed summer time in the park
Life really can be that simple ;-)
Community Lessons:
The Whackness does a great job at showing the Nostalgia of NYC in 1994. To this day you hear people talking about how dope those days were. And personally Hip Hop really was at its best back then (but that doesn't mean that Hip-Hop today isn't any good, it's just harder to sift through all the bullshit, but the good shit is still out there...and when you find it, oh what a joyful feeling ;-)
The dialogue in the film is genius. My favorite line is at the very end of the film:
Lucas is leaving Squire's place and runs into Stephanie who wants to talk to him. Lucas cuts her off in the middle of what she's saying and says:
-Do me a favor, Steph?
-Huh?
-Don't say nothin, ok? Just stand there til I leave. I wanna remember this. I've never done it before.
-Never done what?
-Had my heart broken.
Such a great way to sum up a movie. Because Lucas "gets it" now. He understands that life is about experiencing and learning lessons. When you lose don't lose the lesson and he, even though he's not ever 21 years old yet, gets it. He sees that Only he has control of his life. That you never get anything handed to you for free. He and his parents get evicted and must move to Jersey with his Grand Parents. Stephanie breaks his heart. The last image of the movie has him at the train station lighting up a joint and smiling at life. No telling where he's going but one things for sure...he's not letting any of these minor set backs fuck with his New York state of mind. He may be going back into the city to kick it or get more weed. But the point is that he's still out and about and using what he's experienced to add on to his pallete of amazing capabilities (we all have amazing capabilities that are waiting to be unearthed and utilized....whether it's being an amazing business man or a great leader, cook, etc.)
Wrap up:
This is a film that says: "go out and 'fail' and have a good time in doing so and learn from it to make both you and the world a better place. It's the best way to enjoy life." This is a great film to watch with anyone of all ages. With your female friends, guy friends, people who like Hip-Hop in general, weed smokers. You get sucked right in to the era of 1994 when hip-hop was dope, computers were only in rich peoples houses and house parties were the shit ;-)
-A
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