Cut Throat City

 

Le plan americain in Cut Throat City

Somewhat neglected, RZA's Cut Throat City packs more of a cinematic punch than such putative Oscar bait as Mank and Da 5 Bloods. The film is a New Orleans based crime drama with an ensemble cast of veterans and rookies eager to work for the talented director and musician. The RZA handles his cast with aplomb and shows a range to his work heretofore unevidenced; though the genre dictates of The Man with The Iron Fists and Love Beats Rhymes may have had something to do with it. The screenplay by P. G. Cuschieri is chaotic and full of lines that thud ( "A storm is coming..." intones Kat Graham as we cut to Hurricane Katrina), but it tries to present a multi-layered portrait of a community. Perhaps I am tired of buppies in peril, but I responded to the attempt to portray a black working class milieu as a petri dish of crime. Worth a gander because RZA believes in rising above through art.