Theater Release:
June 24, 2005
DVD Release:
October 25, 2005
Genre:
Documentary
MPAA Rating:
Not Yet Rated
Main Cast:
Ishbel Whitaker, Barry Peele, Ellen Jacobson-Clarke, Starvos Merjos, Rebecca Skinner
Director:
David LaChapelle
Producer:
Richmond Talauega, Tone Talauega
Screenwriter:
David LaChapelle
Studio:
Lions Gate Films
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 Rize uncovers a groundbreaking dance phenomenon that’s exploding on the streets of South Central, Los Angeles. This documentary film brings to first light an aggressive and visually stunning form of artistic expression borne from oppression. The style of dance modernizes moves indigenous to African tribal rituals and features athletic movement sped up to impossible speeds. Rize tracks the dance’s evolution by detailing the lives of Tommy Johnson (Tommy the Clown), who first created the style as a response to the 1992 Rodney King riots and named it “Clowning”, as well as the kids who developed the movement into what they now call Krumping.
The kids use dance as an alternative to gangs and hustling: they form their own troupes and paint their faces like warriors, meeting to outperform rival gangs of dancers or just to hone their skills. Krumping becomes a way of life for the dancers and it’s authentic expression is in completely contrasts the hip-hop culture leaning toward material status and possessions. For the kids, Krumping becomes a vital part of who they are.
Rize focuses on an artform as a movement that the disenfranchised have created and the true stars of the film are the dancers themselves: surrounded by drug addiction, gang activity, and impoverishment, they have managed to somehow rise above. The film offers a portrayal of kids in South Central as they reveal their spirit and creativity. These kids have created art – and often family – where before there was none.
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