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PATTI CAKE$ (2017)
Patti Cake$ poster

CAST
DANIELLE MACDONALD
MAMOUDOU ATHIE
PATRICK BRANA
SIDDHARTH DHANANJAY
BRIDGET EVERETT
McCAUL LOMBARDI
CATHY MORIARTY
WASS STEVENS

WRITTEN BY
GEREMY JASPER

PRODUCED BY
CHRIS COLUMBUS
MICHAEL GOTTWALD
DAN JANVEY
NOAH STAHL
DANIELA TAPLIN LUNDBERG
RODRIGO TEIXEIRA

DIRECTED BY
GEREMY JASPER

GENRE
DRAMA
MUSIC

RATED
AUS:M
UK:15
USA:R

RUNNING TIME
109 MIN

Patti Cake$ image

An underdog story of grit, heart and head-bopping tunes, Patti Cake$ delivers a remix to familiar story beats and does it with attitude to spare.

Once in a while comes along a film that is a total surprise. Its characters are cut from a different cloth, its story totally engrossing in every way. Patti Cake$ is that film through and through. Sure, cinema is filled with underdog tales ranging from Rocky to 8 Mile. Yet there is a texture to the characters of Patti Cake$ that stand out. It is hard to think of a movie that revolves around the struggles of such an ethnically diverse group of characters, without it feeling like a PC guilt trip. Written and directed by Geremy Jasper, Patti Cake$ has a story that feels authentic and touching, a hard-knocks tale played to a hip-hop beat, and with a star-making turn by Australian actress Danielle Macdonald.

She stars as Patricia Dombrowski, aka Patti Cake$, aka Killa P., a 23-year-old part-time bartender from the lower working class section of New Jersey, who has aspirations to direct her God given talent as a rapper into a successful career. With no support from her alcoholic mother (Bridgett Everett), and her ill nanna (Cathy Moriarty) slowing slipping away, Patricia finds support from fellow outsiders Jheri (Siddharth Dhananjay) and Basterd (Mamoudou Athie) to create music and survive in an unforgivable world.

Jasper wears a number of hats in the creation of his feature film debut: director, writer and composer of the catchy hip-hop/rock tunes that feature throughout. It is an impressive feat and speaks to his talent as a multifaceted filmmaker, who establishes the right tone between grit and hope, working class life and the hustle needed to ascend to a higher plateau.

His main character, the suitably nicknamed “Killa P.” is far from conventional, the kind of character more likely relegated to supporting status in order to fill a PC quota. Yet under Jasper’s direction, and played magnificently by Macdonald, the frazzle haired, plus-size Dombrowski is a character both to sympathise for her plight and admire for her “hustle”. Usually work ethic in these types of underdog movies is portrayed via a montage of the sports variety. For Patti Cake$ it is all about the everyday struggle to provide the essentials, the working of two jobs, and the grind to establish a pathway to a career within a music genre that does not take kind to overweight white girls.  

Macdonald gives her character that girt and soul needed to make it all work, an authenticity in her character’s struggle and her characters talent as a lyricist able to spit out bars with passion. Here is hoping Macdonald and indeed Jasper achieves another underdog tale in receiving some richly deserved accolades come this awards season.

 

****

 

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