ATL on DVD: Starring Rapper T.I.

ATL is a coming of age story helmed by music video director Chris Robinson, who has directed videos for just about every hip-hop artist out there. As a director Robinson creates visually appealing images and is not afraid to show off his stylistic skills, using slow-motion, title cards, and long, steady zoom shots.

The films star is another hip-hopper making his transition to the big screen, rapper T.I., the self proclaimed king of the south. Both of them make a fairly smooth transition to film, as Robinson proves that he can maintain a narrative and T.I. displays a charisma that makes his character both believable and likeable.

T.I. plays Rashad, a high school senior who dreams of drawing comics for the Sunday paper. Rashad provides the voice-over narration of the film, and early on he tells us that you grow up fast in Georgia, which is evident in his home life. Rashad's parents died in a car crash a few years back, so he and his little brother now live with their Uncle, yet Rashad is the one who must hold the family together.

This gets especially difficult when Rashad's little brother, Ant, decides that he's tired of being poor and wants some of that drug dealer money that he sees being flashed all around him. Enter another rapper, Big Boi of Outkast, as the drug dealer who takes Ant under his wing. Things of course get a little more complicated from there, as Ant quickly learns that with the easy cash comes some brutal consequences. As the man of his family, it becomes Rashad's job to straighten Ant out, while trying not to get anybody killed in the process.

As is the case with most coming of age stories, ATL's structure is one that is more a series of subplots than that of a single plot. Another key subplot of the film is the love story between Rashad and a girl from around the way; New New, played with charm by the beautiful newcomer Lauren London. London steals just about every scene she's in, suggesting that this former video girl has a bright future on the silver screen.

ATL is based loosely on the lives of TLC's T-Boz Watkins and music producer Dallas Austin, who is currently making headlines for a drug arrest in Dubai. It's based on their lives as teenagers, which was a couple decades ago, thus the film feels like it's in the seventies even though there are many references to present day events. This adds to the confusion in regards to the tone of the film, as such things as the roller skating rink seem dated while the soundtrack and clothes seem current.

Despite its flaws, ATL is an enjoyable film that treads on the same path as many films before it. It focuses on those who want to be someone else, and in the end they of course realize that it's best to be themselves. But it's not the end that matters, it's the journey getting there.