Film – Patti Cake$

Watched on board Air Canada - Nov 2017

 I’m stuck in Dirty Jersey

Based in New Jersey, Patricia is living with her wayward mother, trying to hold down the odd waitressing job while working on a dream to be a hip-hop star. And she is good.It’s a bit of a shame that New Jersey is picked so often to depict either suburban boredom (only boring people can be bored) or poor white trailer trash. Patricia’s situation is a combination of both but mainly due to her mother’s preference to drink away her financial worries rather than work, leaving that necessity to her teenage daughter.Whereas her mum discourages her with petty put-downs, Patti has a warm relationship with her supportive Nan along with an excellent partnership with Jheri, her hip-hop partner who has the best intro scene of the film. Add to the mix the Jimi-Hendrix influenced, self-styled anarchist Basterd and the most unusual rhyming quartet are formed.It’s important to note here that Patti has surrounded herself with a cast of all races and ages to create those tracks.As a debutante, I learn that the writer has put a lot of himself and his own Jersey upbringing into Patti’s journey and the main characters, including some strong women, are fully explored. I am hooked as I want Killa P and her pals to do well but feel like we’re going to be picking her up from a fall most of the time. When it does inevitably come together, I am a cocktail of emotions.All the tracks featured are written for the film in a variety of genres from those sung by Patti’s mum and they stuck in my head long afterwards. You don’t have to like hip-hop – I like some – to adore this film.I love it not just because we all love the ‘you-were-working-as-a-waitress-in-a-cocktail-bar-star-is-born’ theme; but because it gives hope to every rotund girl that attitude counts much more than looks and to every middle-aged mum who thinks her singing time has gone. It hasn’t.The film made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me sad but ultimately it made me so, so happy as it’s about hope. Like many of the films I enjoyed in 2017, it’s one where we learn something.#KillaP for the win.9/10