NEVER DIE ALONE
US, 2004, 88 minutes, Colour.
DMX, Michael Ealy, David Arquette, Clifton Powell, Drew Sidora, Antwon Tanner, Robbie Robinson.
Directed by Ernest R. Dickerson.
Never Die Alone is a very grim drama. It is a portrait of a petty criminal, a drug thief in New York City. It is also about turf wars amongst the gangs in American cities. It serves as a portrait as well as a warning.
The film was directed by Ernest R. Dickerson, a cinematographer who moved to directing in the 1990s, making a number of similar films as well as working in television. He gives his film a dark tone with his cinematographer’s eye.
The star of the film is DMX, well-known rapper, who appeared in a number of films, especially Romeo Must Die and Cradle 2 the Grave with Jet Li. David Arquette stars as a novelist who saves the main character from an attack and takes him to hospital, being rewarded with his money and jewels as well as a box of cassette tapes which are an audio diary of the criminal career of the character who is called King David.
The film is violent, tight, rough. It is an interesting example of the black urban genre.
1.The audience for this film? African Americans? White Americans? The impact in the United States? Its relevance worldwide?
2.The tough gangster world, the world of journalists? Street violence, drugs? Betrayal? Money, power? Death?
3.Ernest Dickerson as a cinematographer, his camera style? The use of high definition? Editing and pace, action sequences? Immersing the audiences in the action and the violence?
4.The musical score, the black music? DMX, the rap music?
5.The structure of the film: the audience seeing the dead man in his coffin, the voice-over? Audience approach to his way of life? In view of his death? The death images?
6.A deeper understanding of King David, the cassettes? His reputation? As a person, his personal style, violent and monstrous? The confrontation with the gangsters? His paying back his debts? His being targeted? The violent attack, his being wounded, it leading to his death? His relationship with women, sexuality, the girlfriend, their interactions? Drugs and his making women dependent on cocaine and then heroin? Mike and his partner, meeting him in the street, angers, his death? The audiotapes? Paul, taking him to the hospital, his being given the rings, the jewels and the tapes?
7.Mike and his friend, their world, the sister? Moon as the leader, his orders? Their attitudes towards King David, violence? His being stabbed, the sister shot? The repercussions? Mike’s friend and his type?
8.Moon, the gangster, his henchmen? His loans, wanting the money back, a loan shark? The exercise of power? His orders? Deaths?
9.The women, the girlfriend, the prostitutes, the sister? Their place in this society? Victims?
10.Paul, in the bar, his work, the drink, his seeing the situation, helping King David, taking him to the hospital, his fears? The orderly, the rings? Paying the expenses?
11.His listening to the tapes, his wanting to be a writer, the discussions with the editor? The investigation of King David’s career?
12.The effect on Paul? The effect on the audience? The initial sympathy when he lay dead, his views on reincarnation, redemption and atonement? Looking back over his life – possibilities of redemption, or not?
