The young brothers from Coal Stove have produced SA’s first dance film - is it worth the hype? Let's dig in.
Coal Stove, who used to do film screenings in downtown Jozi, have stepped it up with Hear Me Move. It's directed by Scott Smith, written by Fidel Namisi and co-stars Wandile Molebatsi so all the Coal Stove partners feature in it. I guess being young folks themselves it made sense to make a film that will deal with issues that face a lot of young South Africans: absent fathers.
Our protagonist, Nyaniso Dzedze aka Muzi, and his rival Tumelo Seleke aka Prince, have to find ways of resolving this issue and dance is the vehicle through which we experience their journey. In his direction, Scott truly embraces the commercial nature of the genre. So if you like you the Step Ups and Dirty Dancing et al, you will feel at home with Hear Me Move. There are plenty of beautiful people, in skimpy outfits, muscles and the score bangs with a lot of classic local pop and kwaito music.
Paul Modjadji, the choreographer, does a great job at giving us some great dance pieces . Whilst Prince who plays the antagonist, brings a lot of heart into his role as the villain of the piece and it is great to see Sbujwa's moves on the big screen re-interpreted.
Yet, due to the genre, the film does get generic - although the absent father theme was a nice touch, but you get all the plot points you get in your Step Up and Dirty Dancing movies. Which inherently is not a bad thing but once you’ve seen 3 or 4 dance movies and you are not a big fan of the genre it does get pedestrian. But fans of the genre, which I feel will be the teeny bopper market, will really enjoy the movie's and teen angst story line.
At the end of the day the greatest strength of the film - being a dance movie - also becomes its biggest weakness - it's another dance movie that does not do much to reinvent the genre. Yet it’s great to see different genres and voices coming out of SA. So if you have kids or teenagers or you like them shiny and sparkling, tag along to catch Hear Me Move.
It has to be noted though that creating a feature film in SA is incredibly hard. Getting the budget, the distribution deals and then getting the SA audience to actually leave their Generations and Isibaya to go to the cinema and pay for ticket, is no easy feat, ask the guys from iNumber Number. So any South African who's able to actually create a film and get it into the cinema needs to be commended, so will take this opportunity to do a slow clap for Coal Stove.
Rating **1/2
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index
* Junk **Almost bearable ***Now we cooking **** Almost perfect ***** Classic
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