The Carter
{{for|the Lil Wayne album|Tha Carter{{!}}Tha Carter}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Carter
| image = the-carter-doc.jpg
| caption = Promotional poster for the movie
| director = Adam Bhala Lough
| producer = Quincy Jones III
Joshua Krause
Jared Freedman
| starring = Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.
Bryan Williams
Cortez Bryant
Reginae Carter
| music = Lil Wayne
| cinematography = Adam Bhala Lough
| editing = Andy Grieve
| distributor = QD3 Entertainment
| released = {{Film date|2009|11|17}}
| runtime = 75 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
}}
The Carter is a 2009 documentary film about the American hip hop recording artist Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., better known as Lil Wayne. The film was directed by Adam Bhala Lough and produced by Joshua Krause and Quincy Jones III, and documents Lil Wayne in the period before and shortly after the release of his studio album, Tha Carter III, which achieved platinum status and critical acclaim, and sold one million copies in one week. After being shown at the Sundance Film Festival, it was subjected to a lawsuit by Carter to block distribution but eventually was released direct to DVD and iTunes, where it topped all movie charts. The film has since been banned from legal sale again but is widely bootlegged on the Internet. Despite having no formal release, it has been rated as one of the top 70 music documentaries of all time.[https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/lists/40-greatest-rock-documentaries-20140815 Rolling Stone 70 Greatest Rock Docs]
Production
While filming The Carter (between 2007 and 2008), the filmmakers conducted no interviews with Carter. As Quincy Jones III told MTV,
"With Wayne, he was like, 'I don't want to do anything that's really missionary. I want to give this a whole, new, fresh approach, so I don't necessarily want to do a formal sit-down interview.'"
The film was shot in a cinéma vérité style, with the production team following the artist during his tours, and conducting interviews with his manager and other associates.{{cite news| url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1626275/20091113/lil_wayne.jhtml | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100628024846/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1626275/20091113/lil_wayne.jhtml | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 28, 2010 | work=MTV | title='The Carter' Documentary Gets 'Intimate' With Lil Wayne, Producer Says |author= Rodriguez, Jayson |date=November 13, 2009 }} Lough said the film is about fame and the "artist's life".
Carter was filmed using marijuana and purple drank (soda laced with a prescription cough syrup) as recreational drugs.{{cite web|author=Wolfe, Roman & Lil Wayne |url=http://allhiphop.com/stories/news/archive/2009/04/22/21437398.aspx |title=Lil Wayne Loses In Court; 'Carter' Doc Greenlighted |website=AllHipHop.com |date=2009-04-22 |accessdate=2013-04-11}} Lough also clearly showed the artist's strong work ethic which has enabled his high productivity, and said that Carter was always recording, whether on the road or not. He is devoted to the process and working all the time.
Distribution and lawsuit
Although Carter was under contract to participate in the film, and Jones said he was "ecstatic" about the final cut, Carter later filed a lawsuit to prevent its distribution after the second screening at the 25th Sundance Film Festival in 2009.{{cite web | url = https://www.nme.com/news/lil-wayne/48293 | title = Lil Wayne documentary gets release date and film trailer - video | accessdate = 2013-04-11 | date = November 10, 2009 | website = NME}} His lawsuit said that Carter was promised the final cut and wanted certain scenes removed that were still in at the Sundance screening. A judge threw out the $50 million lawsuit, and the film was released directly to DVD on November 17, 2009.{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/24/lil.wayne.carter.documentary/ | work=CNN | title=The battle over controversial Lil Wayne film |accessdate= May 25, 2010 | date=November 24, 2009}}
The independently distributed film topped iTunes movie charts in its first week of release.{{cite news| url=http://theboombox.com/lil-wayne-documentary-shoots-to-number-one-on-itunes/ | work=theboombox.com | title=Lil Wayne Documentary Shoots to Number on iTunes}}
The infamous Lil Wayne deposition video that went viral{{Cite web|url=https://www.tmz.com/2012/09/25/lil-wayne-deposition-quincy-jones-iii-documentary-god-video/|title = Lil Wayne -- I Got GOD on Speed Dial}} in 2012 was from a deposition about The Carter documentary with Quincy Jones III in attendance at a law office in Beverly Hills.{{Cite web|url=https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.64922/title.lil-wayne-accused-of-ditching-legal-hearing-with-20m-on-the-line|title=Lil Wayne Accused of Ditching Legal Hearing with $20M on the Line|date=2 October 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.21283/title.additional-footage-from-lil-wayne-lawsuit-deposition-released|title=Additional Footage from Lil Wayne Lawsuit Deposition Released|date=26 September 2012}}
Critical reception
The film received favorable reviews. Jon Caramanica's review in The New York Times called it one of "the most revealing and provocative hip hop films" of all time, observing, "It’s a little like watching Nero fiddle just before Rome begins to burn."{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/movies/an-nwa-biopic-heads-straight-into-mainstream.html | work=The New York Times | first=Jon | last=Caramanica | title = An N.W.A. Biopic Heads Straight to Mainstream | date=August 6, 2015}} Brandon Perkins in the Huffington Post ranked it as "one of the top five greatest hip-hop documentaries of all time" and noted, "it's Lil Wayne's commitment to his art that truly resonates."{{cite news| url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/brandon-perkins/new-lil-wayne-documentary_b_360117.html | work=Huffington Post | first=Brandon | last=Perkins | title=New Lil Wayne Documentary: One of Hip-Hop's Best | date=November 17, 2009}} Ben Westhoff wrote in The Guardian, "it is one of the best music documentaries I’ve ever seen."{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/aug/26/straight-outta-compton-hip-hop-movies | work=The Guardian | first=Ben | last=Westhoff | title = The Straight Outta Compton Effect | date=August 26, 2015}} Complex,{{Cite web|url=https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2012/06/the-25-best-hip-hop-documentaries/the-carter|title = The 25 Best Hip-Hop Documentaries|website = Complex Networks}} IndieWire,{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2018/03/best-music-documentaries-1201933567/3/|title=The 25 Best Music Documentaries of the 21st Century, from 'Amy' to 'The Devil and Daniel Johnston'|date=5 March 2018}} Rolling Stone,{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-lists/70-best-music-documentaries-24757/|title = 40 Greatest Rock Documentaries|magazine = Rolling Stone|date = 25 November 2021}} The Hollywood Reporter,{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/critics-picks-top-10-hip-814388/|title = Critic's Picks: Top 10 Hip-Hop Flix|website = The Hollywood Reporter|date = 11 August 2015}}XXL{{Cite web|url=https://www.xxlmag.com/greatest-hip-hop-documentaries/|title=29 of the Greatest Hip-Hop Documentaries of All-Time}} and "Screen Rant" {{Cite web|url=https://screenrant.com/jeen-yuhs-a-kanye-trilogy-best-hip-hop-rapper-documentaries/|title = Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy & 9 Other Insightful Documentaries About Popular Rappers|website = Screen Rant|date = 27 February 2022}} have also included it on their lists of the greatest rock and hip hop films.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title}}
{{Lil Wayne}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter}}
Category:Documentary films about hip-hop music and musicians
Category:American documentary films
Category:2009 documentary films
Category:Films directed by Adam Bhala Lough