Carmen: A Hip Hopera
| Carmen: A Hip Hopera | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Robert Townsend |
| Written by | Michael Elliot |
| Produced by | Graig Hutchison |
| Starring | Beyoncé Knowles Mekhi Phifer Mos Def Rah Digga Wyclef Jean Lil' Bow Wow Da Brat Casey Lee Jermaine Dupri Reagan Gomez-Preston |
| Music by | Kip Collins |
Carmen: A Hip Hopera is a 2001 musical film produced for television by MTV and directed by Robert Townsend. The film stars Beyoncé Knowles, Mos Def, Rah Digga, Wyclef Jean, Mekhi Phifer, Da Brat, Joy Bryant, Jermaine Dupri and Lil' Bow Wow. It is based upon Georges Bizet's opera, Carmen, set in Philadelphia and Los Angeles in modern times, and features a mostly original hip-hop/R&B score in place of Bizet's opera.
The movie received mainly negative reviews. To date, it is the second major attempt at an African-American adaptation of the opera, the first being the 1943 Broadway musical Carmen Jones and its 1954 Academy Award nominated and box office hit film adaptation.
Cast
- Carmen Brown: Beyoncé Knowles
- Derek Hill: Mekhi Phifer
- Caela: Reagan Gomez-Preston
- Lieutenant Miller: Mos Def
- Cellmate 1: Jada
- Cellmate 2: Jermaine Dupri
- Blaze: Casey Lee
- Jalil: Lil' Bow Wow
- Rasheeda: Rashia "Rah Digga" Battle
- Nikki: Joy Bryant
- Fortune Teller: Wyclef Jean
Plot
Carmen Brown (Beyoncé Knowles) is a seductive, aspiring actress who mistakenly causes trouble everywhere she goes. She gets involved with Derek Hill (Mekhi Phifer), who is engaged to the cocktail waitress, Caela (Reagan Gomez-Preston). At Lou's Bar, Carmen gets into a fight with a jealous woman. The crooked Lieutenant Miller (Mos Def) orders Hill to bring Carmen to jail. Carmen tries unsuccessfully to seduce Hill, but she convinces him to let her stop at her apartment to change clothes. There, she puts on lingerie and wins him over. He is caught in the morning (with Carmen nowhere to be found) by Lieutenant Miller, who brings Caela with him as he arrests Hill. Caela slaps Hill and tells him she hates him.
While in jail, Hill cannot stop thinking about Carmen. She writes him a letter, and he shares his obsession with cellmates Bow Wow and Jermaine Dupri. While Hill is in jail, Carmen meets the famous rapper Blaze (Casey Lee) at a nightclub, The Spot. He wants to bring her to Los Angeles, but succeeds only in bringing her best friends. Carmen promises to meet them in LA once Hill is out of jail. Unfortunately, Hill is facing a year of probation once he gets out. However, after he punches the lieutenant in the face during an argument at the bar, he and Carmen flee to Los Angeles.
Things in Los Angeles don't go well. Carmen can't find an acting job, and Hill's fugitive status prevents him from obtaining employment. She runs into her best friends, Rasheeda (Rah Digga) and Nikki (Joy Bryant), who are being treated like royalty by Blaze. The three of them have their tarot cards read by a psychic (Wyclef Jean). Rasheeda and Nikki receive favorable fortunes, but Carmen's cards read "ruin," "sorrow" and "death." She decides that it's time for a change. She goes to Blaze's rehearsal and wins an invitation to be his date to his next concert. At the same time, a radio falls into the bathtub which Carmen was just in and electrifies. Carmen wonders if that was meant to be her death.
Shortly afterwards, Carmen breaks up with Hill and moves in with her friends in a house apparently owned by Blaze. She feels that she shouldn't give up her life for him, even though he did for her. Much like his counterpart in the original opera, Hill is devastated. He also learns from Caela that he is in danger. Since Hill knows how crooked he is, Miller wants to get rid of him. But Hill goes to Carmen to try to win her over again and make her leave with him. Carmen doesn't want to leave and tells Hill that she is staying. While they are arguing, Miller is watching them and accidentally shoots Carmen in the back twice with a silenced gun while aiming for Hill. Carmen is dying in Hill's arms and she can't talk when Hill keeps asking what was wrong. He touches her back and sees blood running down his hand. Sadly, Carmen dies in his arms. He lays her down on the floor and goes to fight Miller. Hill and Miller have their last fight which ends with Miller falling to his death. The story ends with Hill's wrongful arrest. The film officially ends with the rapping narrator (Da Brat) laying a rose down for Carmen stating "Immortal Beloved...Carmen Brown, There'll never be another".
