Out of Africa

Dave Chappelle’s Block Party finally takes the spotlight off the man and shines it on the music.
by Eric Otto
Rating: 4 out of 5 reels

Dave Chappelle notes that some comedians want to play music, and some musicians think they’re funny, but he falls somewhere in the middle by just conning people out of a lot of money.

Chappelle can’t elude fame-even with his recent duck to South Africa to escape certain contractual obligations with Comedy Central. Despite that, he manages to meld perfectly with the general populace in Block Party. (”Old people love me,” Chappelle notes with chagrin, “I must be doing something right if old people like me.”) Rather than veiling himself behind a posse of blinged bodyguards, Chappelle announces his fame with a bullhorn that he carries throughout the film, punctuating punch lines and slinging political critiques. The overall lack of ego throughout Dave Chappelle’s Block Party is refreshing, allowing the community and the music to unite and harkening back to ’60s and ’70s music fests and films like Wattstax.

The premise couldn’t be simpler: Chappelle organizes a block party in a Brooklyn cul-de-sac and invites the neighborhood. With his bullhorn. And a dozen or so golden tickets he takes back to his hometown of Wilberforce, Ohio and passes out to various town folk-white, black, young and old, including the entire Central State University marching band. The block party itself is a marvelous meshing of acts including Mos Def, Big Daddy Kane, Erykah Badu (sporting the maddest baddest afro wig you’ve ever spied-when the wind blows it off, she responds by stage diving into the audience), Dead Prez, a fabulous Jill Scott, Kanye West and Lauryn Hill with a reformed Fugees, among others. All the performers flow seamlessly. And it’s Chappelle at the helm, acting as both the master of ceremony and-with his commentary recorded before the concert, during rehearsals and in-between acts-the film’s central figure.

Dave Chappelle’s Block Party is directed by Michel Gondry (yes, THAT Michel Gondry) and shot by Ellen Kuras, who also worked with Gondry on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Gondry’s work has always had a flair for comedic elements and odd juxtapositions, which makes him a perfect partner to Chappelle’s own mix of comedy and music. Gondry keeps the camera on Chappelle, but can’t resist following the freakish couple that live in the abandoned warehouse at the end of the cul-de-sac, who play like characters straight out of an R. Crumb comic. But the ultimate effect of the film isn’t a character study, but rather a treatise on the power of music to unite a community. In a nice final scene, Wyclef Jean writes a song with the Central State University marching band members based on the question: What would you do if you were president? It’s a beautiful, self-empowering moment that moved even this critic’s honky heart. LAA

Unrated. Opens March 3rd in selected theaters.