Get ready to party like it's 1999 with Dave Chappelle's Block Party, this festival's most affirmative, rambunctious, infectiously entertaining film. SIMON SWEETMAN revelled in the phat beats and comedy gold.


CHAPPELLE’S SHOW is the funniest sketch-comedy you will apparently never see in New Zealand. Dave Chappelle’s early cult fame (the stoner comedy Half-Baked) made way for some serious racially-motivated comedic statements; biting social satire – and his eponymously titled half-hour comedy show is frequently hilarious and politically barbed. But it seems we are doomed to never see it on these shores – unless you import the first two seasons on DVD (highly recommended). So it’s a treat for New Zealand audiences to be able to check out Dave Chappelle’s Block Party as part of the Telecom New Zealand International Film Festivals.

Part-documentary, part-concert-film, Block Party serves to show one man’s attempts to create a feel-good atmosphere whilst giving something back to the community and it manages to do this while being altogether less cheesy than, say, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Chappelle’s comedy comes from dissection of race, but as an actual comic he is naturally funny: laidback but paradoxically almost always ‘on’, he enjoys himself the entire way through Block Party – whether handing out free tickets to white people in the neighbouring areas or having a laugh at his own expense (trying on pimp hats in a menswear store).

Chappelle loves hip-hop, indeed many of the musical acts seen here have been guests on an episode of Chappelle’s Show, whether brilliantly teaming up for comedy (Mos Def) or simply adding musical, erm, colour to the show (Erykah Badu). For Block Party, the concert footage features some of the finest contemporary hip-hop acts (Badu, Jill Scott, The Roots, Dead Prez); musicians that will inspire and thrill regardless of whether you like hip-hop or not. And as a clown-MC/organiser, Chappelle provides the glue.

Hip-hop was created in the projects, block parties occurred as a way for wannabe DJs, dancers and MCs to showcase their skills – literally entertaining the neighbours at street level. So Chappelle’s move back to create a show that takes entertainment to the people says something about him. And Michel Gondry’s restrained camera work allows the audience to see the real Dave Chappelle (not that different from his comic persona). Gondry’s fly-on-the-wall filming eschews his fantasy-sequence style (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind) but that’s hardly surprising, being that Gondry cut his teeth as a pioneer of the music video; a man who, at the end of the day loves music – and here he frames it perfectly. Gondry’s childlike way of looking at the world is a perfect match for Chappelle’s innocent attempt to create awareness without pushing politics – simply by offering something back, rather than pledging and lobbying.

Block Party features some of the finest musical performances you will see from the wider hip-hop genre (this is no gangsta-rap showcase; the acts are tasteful, wise and paint from the whole palette) and with The Roots acting as house-band the groove is infused to last all night.

But what makes this film work, just as what actually made the event work, is Chappelle; a unique comic entertainer (he walked away from a $50million TV deal; making him the highest paid comedian in world history) who really doesn’t understand the divide that colour creates. And really wants everyone to understand that we were all born equal – music, comedy and entertainment can remind us of that and help us to celebrate the joy that is in living, every chance we get.