Carmen: A Hip Hopera

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Carmen: A Hip Hopera
Directed by Robert Townsend
Produced by Graig Hutchison
Written by Michael Elliot
Starring Beyonce 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
IMDb profile

Carmen: A Hip Hopera is an 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 film adaptation.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Plot

Carmen Brown (Beyoncé Knowles) is a seductive, aspiring actress who 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 no where 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.

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 and make her leave with him. Carmen doesn't want to leave and tells Hill that she is staying. While they were arguing, Miller was watching them and then shoots Carmen in the back twice with a silenced gun. The movie ends at Blaze's concert and in tragedy.

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