Review of Dope (2015) by Yvonne E — 10 Feb 2016

Over the last couple of years, we have witness a progression of racial and cultural identity around the world. Suddenly there is an awakening, everyone young enough to understand how social media works is keen on being informed about their roots. What these recent times have in common with the 70s aside it's fashion is conviction. Youth are more willing to fight for what they believe in. And it's not only racial identity, it's sexual orientation and women's rights. It is therefore no surprise that movies representing these ideologies have stemmed in recent times. Similar to Suffrage and Dear White People, Dope encompasses the peculiar struggles of a people. Writer-Director Rick Famuyiwa tells a tale of a young boy growing up in his childhood neighborhood of Inglewood, California.

Malcolm Adekambie (Shameik Moore) is and 18-year old Harvard prospect, a trait that is out of place in a community where the average teenager leads a life of drug dealing and/or gang banging. He is an African American teenager who looks like he came out from a page of a 1991 issue of VIBE, harnessing a skateboard in one hand and can give the exact dictionary definition of the term "slippery slope" and is alienated for those reasons. He and his best friends Jib (Tony Revolori, who by the way is the lobby boy in 2015's The Grand Budapest Hotel) and Diggy (Kiersey Clemons) are constantly bullied at school, the life of a teenage geek, and robbed on the streets. They never seem to catch a break. Their only escape is the time they spend playing music as post punk Band "Awreeoh".

Malcolm is coerced into becoming acquainted with local drug dealer Dom (A$AP Rocky) whom he plays herald for. His crush on a girl leads him to attend a party that inherently complicates his already complex life. He is caught between a rock and a difficult place and is faced with the challenge of finding a smart way of getting himself out of the sticky situation. This allows him to find out things about himself which he wasn't sure existed.

Like any coming-of-age movie, Dope acknowledges that the late teens are not an easy time for anyone. Malcolm is constantly faced with making decisions and owning them, the perils of being an adult. He explores love, lust, friendship and responsibility. However, unlike most teen movies, Dope's casual approach to sex, drugs, violence and its constant use of strong language makes it unfit for anyone under the age of 18. Its video quality and original music, make it all the more exciting to view.

Famuyiwa adroitly inserts hysterical dialogue and scenes which gives the movie a less in-your-face approach to its serious core values. It addresses race, sexual orientation, the perils of low income communities and politics in the subtlest of ways. It invokes attention by luring its viewers in with sarcasm, if you have a penchant for that, and all round ridiculousness. Where Dope lacks finesse in execution, it more than makes up for in creativity. It is a film with a story to tell and it does just that.