Sam do Jong's Prince is a stylish coming of age tale about Oussama, a teenage boy who is desperate for respect from his peers. Having a junkie father who only comes around to beg for drugs or money, Oussama views himself as the man of the household to his step mother and step sister, intent on being the protective force of the household. Confounding Oussama's confused mindset is a love interest, which further strengthens Oussama's romanticism as it relates to becoming the toughest, baddest boy on the block. Given the vibrant color palette and thumping synthetic score, it makes sense that Sam de Jong's film has garnered comparisons to the work of Nicholas Winding Refn, but it's unfortunately a more superficial comparison, as the direction and editing of Prince is expressionistic but pales in comparison to the artistry and emotion Refn's visuals are capable of evoking. Prince is a film about a young man who is essentially alone without a father, who finds himself forced to be the man of the house. He begins to romanticize toughness and masculinity, interpreting violence and oppression as the key to being a man and gaining respect. With only "the streets" serving as his education, Oussama embraces the gangster lifestyle, eventually learning that forgiveness and understanding are the real key to "being a man". Prince is a film best describes as a visual feast for the eyes, and while the film has some great moments of artistic ingenuity, it never fully works on an emotional level, due at least in part to its short running time and lack of depth in its characterizations outside of Oussama. While the scenes between Oussama and his junkie father offer vivid moments of poignancy, the film struggles with many of its other underdeveloped secondary characters, drawing little emotional resonance as it relates to Oussama's step mother and step sister. I also found the ending to be very strange, an overly sentimental finale that is far too clean and simplistic, feeling very out of place when considering the rest of the film. While some of Sam de Jong's Prince feels underdeveloped, the film's strength lies in its portrait of Oussama, a young man who is enticed by the false principles of masculinity which street culture breeds, eventually learning what "being a man" really means.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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