Bringing it back...to the future. With contemporary slang, 90's style of dress, and 80's music backing the movie, Prince displays a forward way of presenting a new style of film, drawing reference to the past but adding elements of modernism not even seen in many commercial films today. With strategic color blocking of the wildly vivid clothes and cars, to the vast and monochromatic background of Amsterdam's ghettos, director Sam De Jong throws us a stylish and ultramodern production with Prince.
Ayoub (Ayoub Elsari), a Dutch-Moroccan seventeen-year-old lives in the projects of Amsterdam with his sister and mother. He assumes the role of man of the house, because his father is living on the streets as a drug addict. All while watching over the household, he also has his eye on someone else, Laura (Sigrid ten Napel), the resident hottie of the hood, who unsurprisingly dates the bad boy in town. Ayoub makes all the necessary attempts to impress Laura, but in doing so, gets involved with the wrong company. The remainder of the film is spent watching Ayoub reverse the thoughtless mistakes he makes, including breaking away from the drug-dealer he was once involved with.
“Prince” is an ode to the coming-of-age of any young man, and the mistakes that must be made to find the right path. Aside from the exceptional performance of the seasoned actors, many of the individuals in the film had no prior experience of a set or script. Sigrid ten Napel speaks on her experiences working with the not-so-polished actors, making note of the fact that while filming, Ayoub's lines were being screamed to him so that he would be able to say them to her.
Prince is set to be released in North American theaters and On Demand by FilmBuff on August 14.
Note: These ratings and review are personal opinion of the author.
