Snow on Tha Bluff: A forgotten ‘found-footage’ masterwork.
On Damon Russell’s intelligent but forgotten realist film.
The opening sequence of Damon Russell’s 2011 film, Snow on tha Bluff, genuinely caught me off guard. A handheld camera held in the passenger seat of a car parks on a street, and the film’s lead Curtis Blow enters the frame. Instantly, the realism of his performance is clear — perhaps it is too real — and the set-up of a drug deal uses the same slang to entrench itself within reality.
Curtis Blow is invited into the car, explaining that he lives around the corner and will get the customers’ product from his house. They pull up and park outside, before he pulls a gun on the trio in the car and decides also to steal their camera.
We cut to a series of POV shots, aided with narration, introducing us to the life of Curtis Blow. It is one of two extremes — crime, murder, drug use, etc. and extreme love for Curtis’ friends and family.
We are introduced to his world gradually — first, the film embraces the chaos of Curtis’ lifestyle. He explains to his friends that his plan is to record everything — robberies, murders… everything! — and the first night of recording sees Curtis and his friends commit an armed robbery against a group of drug dealers. The tragedy of this lifestyle is…
