Chris Rock isn’t ashamed to have made a “black” film - in fact, that’s the point.
You’re watching Beyond The Trailer’s review of Top Five...
Written, directed by, starring AND promoted by Chris Rock. Yes, Rock has done an amazing
job promoting Top Five, not just appearing on countless TV shows but also the covers
of New York magazine, Time Out and The Hollywood Reporter. With that last one, he wrote an
incredibly honest essay about ethnicity in Hollywood, and why he feels a responsibility
to help out young black talent just as he was given a leg up back in the day. Talent
like Leslie Jones, who Rock discovered on the stand-up circuit but, because she was
not just black but a black woman, it took him years to get her a spot on Saturday Night
Live. Jones also has a small role in Top Five. And with Top Five, Rock is also trying to
help black film in general, and maybe reach out to young black talent he can’t mentor
personally. So far, black talent like producer Will Packer and Kevin Hart - who also appears
here in Top Five - have done a great job developing the mainstream branches of black film. But
what about the art house ones? Sure there’s Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Best Picture
winner, but that wasn’t a “black” film - nor is Steve McQueen a “black” filmmaker.
And while Spike Lee’s mantle might be inherited by Fruitvale Station’s Ryan Coogler or Dear
White People’s Justin Simiens - Rock is thinking bigger than that. Where’s the “black”
Woody Allen, or “black Robert Altman”? Filmmakers who depict yet another aspect of
what’s become the increasingly diverse black experience - which is what Rock is trying
to do here. The meta movie is a Hollywood staple, from Sunset Boulevard to The Player
to Tropic Thunder to Birdman - so why not ad to that tradition with a film which showcases
the black experience in Hollywood? Especially at the most crucial time in the history of
industry for black talent, when they’re finally flexing not just artistic muscle but
- more importantly - box office muscle? In fact, black audiences have so much influence
when it comes to entertainment and purchase power, protesters are trying to inspire the
community NOT to use that power to send a message about Ferguson and Eric Garner. Yes,
it seems like the perfect time for Top Five. Only thing is, while black audiences - and
even some white audiences - have come out in force for the mainstream films, is there
interest in an artistic one? Reminder, even the “white” meta movies have struggled
at
the box office...