The trajectory of a Sundance Film Festival movie can be mapped by milestones on the film calendar. The good movies debut in Park City, Utah and -- hopefully -- generate a fair amount of buzz. Then, when the movie has been acquired, it gets squirreled away until later in the year, so it can find its larger audience and -- again, hopefully -- get into the awards discussion. Which brings us to Patti Cake$. Directed by Geremy Jasper (Outlaws), the film made its debut at Sundance (before moving on to SXSW and Cannes) and started earning raves for both its take-no-prisoners approach, as well as the central turn by actress Danielle MacDonald.
In anticipation of the Patti Cake$ release on August 18, Fox Searchlight has provided CinemaBlend with a series of exclusives images from Geremy Jasper's film, which follows an aspiring young rapper (MacDonald) who is desperately trying to break free from the mean streets of Lodi, New Jersey. This pic shows Patti in her element, at the mic:
In addition to MacDonald, a native Australian who is enjoying her breakout role, Patti Cake$ rides on the talents of co-stars Bridget Everett, Siddharth Dhananjay, Mamoudou Athie, Sahr Ngaujah, McCaul Lombardi, Wass Stevens, Nick Sandow, Anthony Ramos, Ray Iannicelli, Daniel Stewart Sherman, MC Lyte and Cathy Moriarty.
During the film's run through the film-festival circuit, it picked up solid grades from Variety and THR, where Todd McCarthy wrote:
Jasper grew up in the area and the feel for place and attitudes rings completely true. The rawness serves as a welcome counterweight to the filmmakers' crowd-pleasing impulses, so that, in the end, Patti Cake$ has to be included in any discussion of the better rap-related dramatic feature films.
Want to see more of the exclusive Patti Cake$ images provided to CinemaBlend by Fox Searchlight? We included them on the next page. The movie will open in theaters on August 18, and from what we are hearing, you should have this one on your radar.
