Trying to find the right way to start this revisit of Hype
Williams’ gangster rap drama Belly, is difficult. Partly because the film
itself has one of the slickest openings for a crime movie of that era. Belly’s
opening club heist is an arduous and intimidating piece of filmmaking. Set in
the bowels of a New York City strip club, the scene is drenched in glowing,
inferred lights and dramatic slow-motion. It is more than just eye-catching.
R&B and Hip-Hop culture is fully digested into Belly. One of the more
striking examples is its use of Soul 2 Soul’s album version of Back to Life,
sung in acapella by Caron Wheeler. This
becomes the sonic backing to what soon becomes a violent holdup. 28 years
later, the Mubi Film Podcast notes its use of music as the perfect soundbed for
the sequence. They are right. The scene feels like the ultimate primer.
Something that’s going to strap the viewer in for an incredible ride.
Unfortunately, once the film’s opening scenes play out,
Belly descends into a jumbled mess. Belly desires to be a message movie, a
mafioso flick, a music video, and the ultimate declaration of black urban
culture. A film made by hip-hop, for hip-hop. Yet this production was plagued
by production friction. This is clear from its haphazard screenplay, which
bounces from scene to scene with only tenuous connections. The clammy,
calculating hand of a studio executive can be felt. But Belly has other issues.
Something this writer will look to talk about later in this piece. Till then,
let’s start with the good.
Belly is astonishing visually. This is no surprise. The
film’s director, Hype Williams, is a pioneer of Hip-Hop and RnB music videos.
The memes of 90s rap videos and how they look? It’s pretty much all down to
him. Originally a graffiti artist in his own right, Williams’ bold style was
influenced by artists such as Basquiat. Taking his visual artistry towards the
world of narrative film makes Belly stand out against many of the “hood” movies
of the era. Even now, the film feels unique.
In films in which every shot could be a painting, with Belly, many shots
could grace an album cover. The strip-club heist takes most of the plaudits.
However, more should be said about the scene almost immediately afterwards, set
in Tommy’s home. The blacks of the gang’s outfits are contrasted against the
whites of the walls. Layered upon this are the black and white paintings of
black women, which are hung above the characters. The beauty of the
compositions is contrasted against the crass, egoistical exchanges of the men
within the scene.
Belly doesn’t muck around when it comes to visual distinction. Tommy’s black and white apartment becomes a great visual representation of how Tommy sees the world at that point. Sincere’s home is gracefully blessed with woody, naturalistic tones which are acutely attuned to that character. Taral Hicks, who plays Tommy’s girlfriend Kisha, is often bathed in electric blue, which could have signalled an emotional resonance to that character, but may only be used because Hicks looks incredibly sexy in that light while wearing only white laced lingerie. Although the treatment of female characters highlights an issue with Belly’s blase attitude towards women. Before Williams, black actors were plagued by muddy representations of themselves on film due to colour tones, and lighting was balanced for their white counterparts. Williams set a precedent in how black skin is captured on film. Utilising items like baby oil to reflect the skin correctly in the highlights. Acclaimed director Barry Jenkins has stated that Belly was a strong influence on how the filmmaker works visually. Williams’ formalism is of high artistry. He knows what looks good. Belly is a perfect distillation of his visual form.
But what of the script? Has anyone noticed this piece has
danced around Belly’s plot? Barely offering a small morsel of a synopsis to
nibble on? It is the film's screenplay (and the editing of said screenplay)
which breaks Belly. Nas plays Sincere, who robs banks with his long-time
partner in crime, Tommy Bunds (DMX). After one huge strip club heist (mentioned
earlier), Sincere debates whether he wishes to continue living the life. Tommy,
on the other hand, has his head turned by a Jamaican gangster who wishes to
deal drugs in Nebraska for some reason. Tommy’s blunt view of the world has him
up sticks from New York to sell drugs in Middle America, while Sincere begins
to flirt with the idea of moving to Africa. Although this dream pops into the
film rather suddenly. There are some wispy thin subplots involving the two
men’s girlfriends. The film introduces hitmen, espionage and double crossing of
some kind. However, much of the film’s narrative is wrapped up in a screenplay
that feels both unfinished and gutted. The connective tissue that should guide
a viewer is missing, while the film’s visuals seem to be used to paper over the
cracks.
The film suffers from similar criticisms which have been aimed at masterful mafioso films like The Godfather (1972) or Goodfellas (1990). Williams’ film glorifies “the life”, and the visuals are a key part of the seduction. But the likes of Scorsese and Coppola have well drawn and complex plot strands to contrast with the surface glare. Hype Williams can’t plumb similar depths. Late in the film, a newly introduced character performs a literal sermon to another character, set on New Year's Eve 1999, denouncing certain ills of black culture that have been displayed within Belly’s story. It’s out of the packet, on the nose and more than a little naïve. The women in the story are objectified, Drugs and fast cash are embraced, and Black men live the stereotypical gangland lifestyle heard in hundreds of rap albums. Yet Belly’s sudden moral stance on what has happened before is not well integrated into the narrative. Is there anything wrong with Taral Hicks looking stunning in white underwear? Not at all. Especially in the way Williams captures her. But the film does little else but this. It’s a character without agency, seemingly around to be looked at, while her partner cheats on her (in one of many badly developed subplots) before being targeted for Tommy’s crimes. Speaking of which, Tommy shows himself to be a literal predator of minors. Does the film provide any strong commentary on this? Does it truly denounce it? Not really. How it slips by feels sickly when watching with 2026 eyes.
Belly’s leftfield turn into moralising doesn’t come from a “holier than thou” place. There’s no egregious academic pomposity here. Belly isn’t just considered a FUBU film for no reason. Its use of rappers and RnB singers as main cast members doesn’t feel like corporate synergy. This is apparent from the film’s opening moments before the iconic heist. This moody intro scene has DMX’s Tommy preparing for the strip club heist. His gravel-laden voice hovers over the images. Narrating some of the film’s themes in rhyme. Vocally, it feels lifted directly from the Prayer skits that appear on DMX’s first three albums. The use of DMX in this opening segment, as well as his overall casting, is a smart decision from Williams. The tragic personal life and desire for redemption bled into the late Earl Simmons’ music. The combination of semi-auto biographical persona and Belly’s attempts at moral convictions gel well. As cliché as this may sound, it’s clear that Williams wants to have “the streets talking” as opposed to any fakery. The same can be said of the casting of legendary rapper Nas as Sincere. DMX fares better in his performance due to his kinetic energy. Nas looks and feels out of his element as an actor. But one suspects that if you picked any of either artist’s albums, you’d see Williams trying to filter the words they spit on wax and transfer it to screen.
As Iconic as these two legends of hip-hop are, simply having
them as leads is not enough to provide the substance which is sorely lacking
within Belly. Neither artist carries the film well, while the screenplay lacks
the key foundations which would make much of Belly credible. Bunds and Sincere
are self-referenced as Butch and Sundance, but rewatch the 1969 film Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. You believe the Newman/Redford relationship is
not only based on their chemistry, but also because the film spends time with
the two of them together. If Nas and DMX were stronger actors, Belly could get
away with the two being separated in the film for so long, but it really can’t.
The central idea of this duo having such a cemented friendship doesn’t hold
water. They’re apart for too long, and
when they do interact, the relationship holds no intimacy.
This coincides with another issue of the film. Belly is
neither surrealist nor based in magical realism. There’s no dream logic here.
This is a film meddled with by its studio. The cast didn’t help matters. They
turned up high, drunk or late. All the while, the visionary director is doing
what he can to maintain a semblance of control, working semi-guerrilla style at
various points. And it shows. The film feels muddy and jumbled. And the grand
statements it wants to express aren’t the reason behind this. Everything comes
down to the simple fact that whatever needed to be put in place to make
narrative sense is clearly missing. Unlike, say, David Lynch or even Harmony
Korine’s Gummo (1997), which the film overtly namechecks, Belly can’t
articulate the emotional resonance it desires.
Not because it wasn't aiming to fly high, but because it was clipped at
the wings.
Supporters of Belly are extremely passionate about the movie and are snippy about the critical reaction towards it. But I find myself agreeing with what the reviewers saw. It’s the kind of movie that such writers fear from Music video directors: A visually ambitious feature hampered by a cannibalised screenplay and weak performances. Something that plays out like a 90-minute music video. Williams hasn’t seen a transition or bold composition he doesn’t love, but his visual ambitions continuously stumble upon a quagmire of narrative. The film casts a lustful eye over how things look, but never on how characters and scenes intersect. Williams has not followed Belly with a second feature. This is a shame. One wonders what the man could do without the shackles, less meddling, and a full script.
