Director Nabil Ayouch brings heart and energy to the Cannes Film Festival competition with Casablanca Beats (Haut Et Fort), a story of arts students in the titular Moroccan city.
Former rapper Anas (a charismatic Anas Basbousi) takes a job at a cultural center in a working-class part of town, and tries to teach a mixed group of kids and teens to rap.
Like Anas, the young cast are playing versions of themselves, and bring their talents for rap, singing and dance to striking performance scenes.
But there’s an inescapable problem for global audiences: rap is so much more effective in your own language. The subtitles do a valiant job, but they can’t deliver the kind of punch you’d expect from a slick, surprising rhyme.
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