Just like his previous effort, the remarkable Welcome to Pine HIll, Keith Miller's latest film, Five Star, blends elements of reality and fiction to tell a powerful story of inner city struggle. Five Star is centered around the relationship between two men, Primo, a notorious drug leader in the Bloods gang both in reality and the film, and John, a young man whose father, a gang member himself, was shot and killed. Taking John under his wing, Primo verses the teenager on the code of the streets, explaining to him how respect and fear are the two most important things in order to survive and prosper in this game. Keith Miller's Five Star touches on a lot of the same issues we've seen before in similar films, such as the romanticism of gangs and violence by youth, but not many touch on the more personal aspects of family and paternity in such a nuanced way. What gives these observations more weight and elevates the film on many levels is Primo, the real-life 'Five Star' Blood gang member who is probably playing himself. Five Star is a tale of fathers and sons, a piercing portrait of two men struggling with gang life. While John's struggle between potentially going down the same path as his dad is the more external arch, Primo's struggles are by far the more nuanced and powerful aspect of Five Star. From a piercing opening sequence that captures the raw power of Primo as he explains why he has so much devotion to his sons to an off screen presence it become apparent he struggles with guilt and doubts about still being a part of the gang lifestyle. In this opening sequence it's abundantly clear that he loves his sons very much, never wanting them to have to suffer through the same tumultuous lifestyle that he did. In a world that views any type of love or affection as weakness, Primo sits on the throne, with internal struggles centered around him knowing he himself needs to get out of the drug trade haunting his psyche. Five Star is a film that feels 100% authentic, with Primo demanding your attention every time he is on the screen. The film shows attention to detail, not only in Primo's menacing calmness, but even in smaller details, like how when driving Primo checks his rearview mirror every few seconds. While Five Star doesn't have the same overall weight as Welcome to Pine Hill due to its more familiar subject matter, the film is still a vivid portrait of inner city struggle, told in a very authentic way.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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