Film: Dancehall Queen
Release date: 25th August 2008
Certificate: 15
Running time: 96 mins
Director: Rick Elgood & Don Letts
Starring: Audrey Reid, Paul Campbell, Carl Davis, Mark Danvers, Cherine Anderson
Genre: Drama
Studio: Palm
Format: DVD
Country: Jamaica
This is an English-language release.
Another film from the warm shores of the Caribbean tackles the raw issues surrounding corrupt society. However the twist in this movie lies in the storyline which wouldn’t seem out of place in a Hollywood blockbuster. With something that has been done a million times over in tinsel town, the makers of Dancehall Queen get down and dirty redeeming the poor and damning the crooked in Jamaica.
Amongst the ghettos of Kingston lives Marcia, a street vendor, her brother Junior, and her two young girls. Without the financial help from befriended ‘Uncle’ Larry, the family would barely be able to feed themselves; only in return, Larry expects sex from the eldest daughter, Tanya, who is only 15. Strife gives chase when Junior, who witnesses a serious crime, gets stuck in a no-man’s-land of continual fleeing due to the pursuit from the criminal and the police, both bearing violence.
When the headstrong Tanya adamantly refuses to carry on the perverted financial arrangement, Marcia is forced to seek other means of income. Just then, she encounters the current dancehall queen, Olivine, driving a flashy new car and receiving plenty of attention. Then Marcia notices something else - Olivine looks as normal and plain as any other girl on the street in the daytime; it’s only at night that she dons her glad rags and becomes the belle of the ball.
An idea is born! With the help of Miss Gordon, a talented seamstress, Marcia creates a new persona with a fierce wardrobe, and launches on her task of becoming the new dancehall queen around which respect and wealth flourish. If only she can find a way of saving her brother from insanity, the family from the clutches of criminal ‘Priest’, and the ever-looming presence of lecherous Uncle Larry, the dancehall queen contest would be a cinch – as long as nobody finds out her true identity, lowly Marcia the street vendor…
On paper, the film works. It has a strong storyline with good subplots to keep interest, but all this promise falls down in the content’s execution - and this is where the issues surrounding Caribbean cinema rear their ugly head again. The industry’s incapacity and financial stringency prevent Caribbean cinema from flourishing, which is such a great shame when films like this come along with so much going for them. The cracks show in the lack of fluidity of the film. One minute we’re witnessing a dramatic scene of despair and shame - Tanya argues with her mother having just slept with Uncle Larry - and a few minutes later, we see what could be a forty second advert for tourism in Jamaica, or a music video, where Tanya and her friends frolic in the sun on the beach.
Other factors of the storyline are also not contended very well. At one point, Junior is going crazy on a rocking chair in his parents’ garden where he goes to stay for a while. Having previously been quite a featured character of the story, we then see or hear nothing more of him until the end section of the film, where we get a very brief blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpse of him suddenly back to normal, and aware of all the shenanigans taking place. Perhaps space on the reel could have been better utilised on explaining Junior’s situation, rather than Tanya’s forty second caper on the beach.
Nevertheless, for all the inconsistencies of the storyline, the characterisation and performances are so impressive, you can’t help but fall for the inspired acting. The script helps with injections of wit and humour here and there, and it’s the debut performance from actress Audrey Reid, who plays protagonist Marcia, that steals the show. She is so convincing as both the feisty tom-boy Marcia, and also the sexy, rhythmical, dancing ‘Mystery Woman’, and the transformation is flawless - she never loses site of who the character really is, but finds a new defining side of her.
The film boasts a moral standpoint on all the issues within Jamaican society, and this gives a dimension which might be the film’s overall redeeming quality. There’s the corrupt policing, violence, run-down shanty towns, and the exploitive wealthy on the poor. No men in the film are looked too kindly on either; they’re either dishonest or weak – in fact, apart from Marcia’s father who barely features, the only one good guy in the film who protects his friends and stands up to all the wrongdoing gets killed at the beginning. We are being shown the real, gritty Jamaica, which isn’t just bright colours, hot sun, blue skies and rich music. There’s the darker side, too, but always with a hint of optimism, with sayings like “There’s more to life than money,” and “All good things come to him who waits.”
If the same film were done in Hollywood, only a depth fit to dip a toe in would be achieved, but the heavier themes within and surrounding this film – including the situation of Caribbean cinema – make it less likely for the viewer to get that sickly-sweet feeling normally associated with Cinderella stories. The script and acting carry the film over the lumps and bumps in the story’s execution to give a thoroughly enjoyable film, especially for those who love reggae, roots and dancehall music. MI
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