directed by:
Marcellus Cox written by: Marcellus Cox genre: Drama |
Not gonna lie, I’m kinda stoked about the fact that Jamarcus gets his head slapped by his grandmother towards the start of this film for an uncalled-for misogynistic comment - that deserved to be met with the kind of force a strong woman can provide. It’s the last moment that you’ll see the kid get out of line inside the length of “Jamarcus Rose & Da 5 Bullet Holes,” so you know that slap really connected. Obviously there are many things you can infer here as you start to get into this tale, and Writer/Director Marcellus Cox will continue to clear those details up as it all plays out, but what you’ll see right from the get-go in this film is a young black man who is living with his grandma, and to help him navigate the loss of his parents, she’s enrolled him in the Big Brother program. At his most playful, Jamarcus has got that quintessential mischievous smile…kind of like the one we see on Anthony Edwards these days anytime the Timberwolves are playing. Clearly, he’s a troublemaker to an extent, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. The more we learn about Rose, the more we realize he’s not a bad dude at all. He’s probably just a punk kid like so many of us are, until we’re taught how to finally become our adult selves. He’s got me in his corner as a viewer - I think we want this dude to get to where he’s supposed to be, and with the help of Big Brother Jasper, there’s a significant chance that he’ll become the best version of himself. At least that’s what I think we’re all supposed to be hoping for as this story unfolds.
Casting-wise…I dunno…I guess I had some questions, but they very well might just stem from me being uninformed. How long does the Big Brother program support ‘kids’ for? You see where I’m going with this? Perhaps Jamarcus simply looks older for his age, or maybe that’s exactly what it is, and the actor playing him (Duane Ervin) was put in the impossible task of playing a kid as an adult. In any event, despite the quality of his acting, which seemed solid enough for the role, I’ll admit that it was almost tough to get into this film as a result of that casting choice...at first. It just seemed like the role of Jamarcus should be played by someone with a significantly younger look to them. But what do I know anyhow? I’m older than dirt at this point…but that’s kinda the thing too - most people look younger to me, and the character of Jamarcus should have based on where he’s at in his life in this particular story, shouldn’t he? Again, maybe that’s just the way I’m seeing it, but if I am, then chances are someone else out there is too…or perhaps multiple people. It’s nothing so detrimental that you’d stop watching “Jamarcus Rose & Da 5 Bullet Holes,” or even stop you from rooting for this story’s main character, but it’s something that does affect our suspension of disbelief as we’re trying to watch. To be completely fair to the story that’s being told, though, it could also be viewed that a person like Jamarcus might have an extremely tough time breaking through to adulthood, because he never had the opportunity to grow up in the same ways the rest of us do. Many of us have our parents and the guidance they need, but he never had that…so maybe, even as a man, maybe he’s still got a childlike perspective that needs additional help and guidance if he’s going to successfully reach true adulthood. Jasper (Stephen Cofield Jr.), who plays Big Brother to Jamarcus, balances out the whole casting scenario, seeming like he was pretty much born to play the role he’s playing in this film. For the most part, it’s the two of them and some well-considered dialogue to keep us company as we watch. There’s not a whole lot to the look of “Jamarcus Rose & Da 5 Bullet Holes,” but the story/dialogue keep us engaged. What becomes a whole lot trickier as you watch this film play out is determining what it was ultimately trying to say. To me, I think you need to fully grasp the context in order for it to make sense - and I also don’t think determining that was necessarily made easy on the audience. Marcellus makes a choice in masking the meaning behind his film a bit more than he might have needed to, but I think we have to assume that’s exactly as he intended. From my perspective, if you really want to understand “Jamarcus Rose & Da 5 Bullet Holes,” you need to pay close attention to the very first thing you’ll see onscreen, which is a quote from Huey P. Newton that reads: “My fear was not of death itself, but a death without meaning.” I get chills just from reading that. I feel that, deep in my bones. I strive every day to create some kind of meaning to the whole life experience, and even with the most focused eye in that regard, true meaning still consistently feels too elusive. For those of you who don’t know Newton by name, he’s one of the co-founders of the Black Panther Party & its subsequent movement - his life, and his death, had the kind of meaning most of us could only aspire to have in one go around. And yes, if you’re not aware of his history, he was eventually shot and killed, but the impact of his work continues to resonate in a huge way.
Now, that doesn’t mean there’s not still some brainwork involved in understanding how that quote relates to what you’ll see onscreen, and I’m not going to pretend that I feel like I totally got what Cox was going for either. I look at it this way - life is this big, glorious, senseless thing we all try to make some kind of sense out of, despite knowing better. By the time you reach the end of “Jamarcus Rose & Da 5 Bullet Holes,” you’ll appreciate that even when you go into living life with the best of intentions and a good head on your shoulders, everything can be taken away in an instant, no matter who you are. There’s something entirely tragic about coming to grips with that…and personally, I really loved that Cox basically forces us to confront what so many of us try not to acknowledge about the fragility of life itself. Again, the question becomes, what is he really trying to say here? Are we to assume that a film like this is trying to tell us to be in the moment, in the present, and appreciate that for all its worth? That same singular fraction of life is still just as at risk as any other of finding its way to an immediate ending, and I’d argue that that’s exactly what you’ll see as this story comes to its final conclusion. So like…that can’t really be what Cox was trying to communicate, you feel me? He also can’t really be trying to stress the importance of straightening up & flying right when it can all be taken away in a heartbeat, either, right? With the parallels that exist between a story from Jasper’s own experiences and the ending to this story, we could potentially assume that Cox is looking at life as a cycle that cannot seem to be broken, no matter how you try to steer the outcome towards something different than what it has typically been in the past - which might very well be the best theory, despite that not being the rosiest view of the world. It’s possible that we’re supposed to look at Jamarcus’ story as one of redemption…that he did find a way to make life have meaning after all…but even that theory would somehow assume that he didn’t really have that before, and I’m not entirely convinced that’s the case. Maybe that’s how we’d view it from the outside looking in, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he would have seen things the way that we do. What I liked more than anything else, I think, was that a film like this is still an important addition to a much larger conversation. It’s thought-provoking in all the right ways, and hopefully, it’ll get you taking a moment to think about what makes a life worth living, and whether you did all that you can so that you can be satisfied with the effort you’ve put in when all is said and done. That’s what I took away from it…and how could I be dissatisfied if that’s the case? I’m going with a strong three and a half stars out of five. |
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