A great concert film is a communal celebration that should leave you exhilarated, invigorated and pissed off that you couldn't be there to witness it first-hand. It takes a visionary director to create and sustain a brisk vibe to appeal to a mass audience of varying tastes. Brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind\ director Michel Gondry has proven he is up to the task with ""Dave Chappelle's Block Party,"" a lively chronicle of a free Brooklyn bash Chappelle held in September 2004.
Filmed before Chappelle's infamous $50 million contract break with Comedy Central, ""Block Party"" consists of behind-the-scenes preparation footage, interviews, Chappelle interacting with folks, Chappelle goofing off and, of course, the concert performances themselves. Chappelle is at his most genial and pleasant here, relishing the opportunity to give away ""golden tickets"" to people who would not ordinarily be able to afford a star-studded block party. Black or white, old or young—Chappelle invites pretty much anybody he chats with on the street, whether they are kooky hippies or ecstatic high school kids.
While the nonmusical transitions of the film are buoyed by Chappelle's loosely improvisational comedy, the performances are what it is all about. One performance after another is brilliant: Kanye West leads a joyous rendition of ""Jesus Walks"" accompanied by Ohio's Central State University's marching band, Erykah Badu and Jill Scott belt out a few passionate anthems and Mos Def and Talib Kweli frequently turn up ferociously spitting rhymes. Even if none of these performers appeal to you, you need to go for the newly-reunited The Fugees, with Lauryn Hill's triumphant warbling of ""Killing Me Softly,"" which is likely to transfix a packed multiplex just as it mesmerizes the worn-out, often-stoned crowd present in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Gondry's 16mm cameras capture every performer with heedless energy, zooming and panning with frenzied enthusiasm to film everything he can.
The only complaint one could make lies with how sloppily and haphazardly ""Block Party"" is structured. There's very little narrative cohesion as Gondry hops freely from one diversion to another, sometimes interrupting a rollicking performance just so Chappelle can go off on a tangent.
Chappelle's comedy—which is more relaxed and friendly than his taboo-thrashing show—is fine tuned and crowd pleasing. This is Chappelle using his clout to give some people a good time, and he appears as if he could not be happier. Do not go into ""Block Party"" hoping to glimpse any insight into Chappelle's recent flight from the limelight. Go to ""Block Party"" to see wonderful music from socially-conscious hip-hop and R&B artists who don't subscribe to dated gangsta nihilism or catchy-but-brain-dead hooks. ""Block Party"" is a fantastic fusion of jubilant comedy and music and a dynamic new film from a rising director.
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