SYNOPSICS
Brooklyn Babylon (2001) is a English movie. Marc Levin has directed this movie. Tariq Trotter,Karen Starc,Bonz Malone,David Vadim are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2001. Brooklyn Babylon (2001) is considered one of the best Drama,Music,Romance movie in India and around the world.
In Brooklyn's Crown Heights, where West Indian Rastafarians and other Blacks live next door to the Jewish Lubavitch community, ethnic tensions are high. After a minor car crash, the headstrong Judah and other Jewish youths who patrol as vigilantes confront Scratch, a mouthy African-American hustler. Passengers in the cars make eye contact: Sol, a hip-hop musician, songwriter, and artist (Scratch's friend), and Sara, who is betrothed to Judah but wants to go to college and be on her own. Over the next few days, while Scratch and Judah's conflict escalates in violence, Sara and Sol connect in ways that echo Sheba and Solomon. The friendship puts them in danger.
Brooklyn Babylon (2001) Trailers
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Brooklyn Babylon (2001) Reviews
A good movie that could've been great without all the clichés
Brooklyn Babylon is Marc Levin's 2001 film about the African American and Jewish community in Brooklyn, N.Y. Set in Crown Heights, the story revolves around Sara, a young Jewish girl and Solomon, an African American aspiring to become a musician. After their cars collide in a sudden car accident, Sara and Solomon lock eyes and develop an instant connection. After their second encounter, the two begin to see each other and its not soon before long until their friends and family disapprove. Eventually violence between their friends ensues and it seems that the more these two fall in love, the harder it is to maintain their budding romance. Gradually, Solomon exposes Sara to a whole new world outside of her Jewish faith which forces her to question her beliefs. Over all, Brooklyn Babylon is a pretty solid movie. Although the film is somewhat cliché, it is still easy to watch. Instead of violence, the film could've had a break through with less violence and more camaraderie between the characters. Marc Levin highlights the cultural backgrounds of the characters in a very profound way. In addition, the acting of the two leads is fairly decent. Watch out for some good musical performances by the roots.
Good Cast - Poor direction - Great soundtrack!
I saw this last nite and while I enjoyed many of the performances and certain scenes I was left with nothing after I left the theatre. The whole movie was contrived and did not offer any solution or direction towards resolving the plot. The beginning fools you into believing the movie takes place in 1991 but according to Marc Levin, who spoke after the show alongside tariq trotter, the movie takes place in the present. I think Levin has no idea what he's doing. Give me that $4 million budget and I will bring a masterpiece the theatre.
The soundtrack saves a messy movie.
First of all, I'd like to reply to one of the reviewers (Kastellos) who dismisses hip-hop music as cheap and says that hip-hop artists become successful only on luck. Well, I'd like to inform him/her that The Roots are one of the most revered bands not only in the hip-hop world, but internationally, since they blend soul, hip-hop, rhythm'n'blues; their songs have been used for the soundtrack of dozens of movies and one of them topped the charts in 2002. The Roots are a solid band, and it shows right from the beginning of the movie, when they perform one of the best songs of the soundtrack, a track a lot more mature and layered than your "average" hip-hop track. I borrowed the DVD from the library mainly because of the soundtrack, and I have to admit it's what saves an altogether messy movie. The actors are barely beyond amateurish, Karen Starc is very pretty but she definitely needs more acting lessons, like most of the cast (with the exception of Bonz Malone and David Vadim). The story of the clash between black and Jewish communities could have been told much better with a better script and cast. Some "documentary" takes give a flavor of reality, but the movie falls in many ways. All in all, a mediocre movie saved by a great soundtrack.
I want my money back!
This movie started out really gripping with some clever juxtapositions of the two cultures. The hip-hop scene and the Jewish wedding set the stage for what seemed a very promising movie. For three-quarters of the movie things developed organically (if somewhat slow) towards a very tender liaison dangereux. After that, the movie just went bust for me. The threat of escalating violence is not explored, nor is there a visible means of a solution. True, in real life there are no easy solutions, either, but making a choice for either one in a movie would seem at least cinematographically correct. As it is, this movie tethers out to a cliché showdown-between-the-two-antagonists (Sol and Judah) (in the park, remember? Oh, you forgot, well, I didn't think it very memorable either) and an end shot of Sarah with a baby. And that's all, folks. What? Hello! This I found particularly depressing. Where is Sol? Is he dead? did they elope? Did he decide to stick with his music and leave his love to raise their child alone ? "Planting a seed for Zion", as the old Rastafari put it constitutes knocking women up and then leaving them? Surely that can't be the case. Failing to work out such a massive part of the story for me is just plain lame. It is mentioned too we get to see too little of Sara. I agree. That combined with the fact that Sol is sometimes not entirely likable (not to mention sometimes a bit too cliché Rasta-drone) takes a lot of credits away from the love story. And I've heard better rappers, too.
enjoyed it
On a lot of levels this movies comes after several other films that belong in the same genre...do the right thing, save the last dance, romeo and juliet...etcetera...but all films take from other films and all are designed to showcase something new against something familiar...for me it was the fact there is such a tension in the city...and how against such a huge mess, ppl still have unique and personal problems to solve.... I also though this film was very well shot, i loved the way they used the pull focus technique throughout and let the camera get intimate with the characters during the scenes... I loved the music and thought that was brilliant how it showcased their talents without it being a "concert movie" good rental, would recommend it... agreed, that I would like to see the lead actors in a more demanding story...