DAVE CHAPPELLE’S BLOCK PARTY
Directed by: Michel Gondry.
Produced by: Bob Yari, Dave Chappelle, Mustafa Abuelhija & Julie Fong.
Director of Photography: Ellen Kuras.
Edited by: Sarah Flack & Jeff Buchanan.
Music Supervised by: Corey Smyth.
Released by: Rogue.
Country of Origin: USA. Rated: R.
With: Dave Chappelle, Kanye West, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Dead Prez, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, the Roots, Cody ChesnuTT, Big Daddy Kane & the Fugees.

Nestled in a large Brooklyn alley between the daycare center that Biggie Smalls attended and a nearly-abandoned building, Dave Chappelle, serving as producer and emcee, organized a free one-night neighborhood block party with a lineup featuring some of the most talented hip hop artists in recent memory. He enlisted Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) to film the event and the days leading up to it, creating an energizing film about community, race, history, and good music – really good music.

The film pointedly begins in Chappelle's hometown as he hands out round-trip bus tickets to all kinds of people who might want to see the show, one group being Ohio’s Central State University Marching Band. They open the concert by marching through the nearby Brooklyn streets playing Kanye West’s “Jesus Walks with Me” to announce the party around the corner.

Conceived as both a movie and a party, it’s important to recognize that neither was designed to be a commercial success. Kanye West is huge, as is Chappelle, and certainly the bulk of the artists involved are big names, but only a few of them sing their hot, bestselling songs. Instead, they sing about community, their pasts, and their hopes for the future. Many of them are used to singing together, before and after they became celebrated musicians. That combination is what makes this film so hard to sit through without dancing and singing along. Even when the songs are angry or mournful, it’s still joyous to see these artists in this particular setting.

A surprising amount of the energy can be credited to Gondry. Chappelle had initially wanted the concert to be in Central Park, but it was Gondry who suggested a Brooklyn block party. He also came up with the idea to have the same band perform each artist’s songs to give the night a consistent sound.

It’s hard to describe some of the impromptu occurrences, like when Erykah Badu, Common, and Jill Scott all decide to sing together; Dave Chappelle and Mos Def’s hokey Dave Letterman-Paul Shaffer banter; or when someone asks Lauryn Hill where she’s been and she points to her infant son behind the band, but the crowd says it all. And Gondry knows how to do a good crowd shot. Not a single one feels like it lingers too long or it’s capturing the wrong thing at the wrong moment, as most concert films do.

The perfect example is the last 20 minutes, which are devoted to the Fugees in their first appearance together in eight years and a performance that would later lead to an album after a decade of bitter friction. Chappelle explains that singer Lauryn Hill had wanted to come but Columbia Records refused to release her songs for the film, so Hill suggested that she and the Fugees reunite. Gondry’s editing of just the right shots, just the right songs, and just the right behind-the-scenes conversation within the group is the crown achievement of this already exuberant film. Zachary Jones
March 3, 2006