“Once upon a time there was a girl named Bri/That’s me,” newcomer Jamila C. Gray informs us, via improvised spoken word, in the trailer for Sanaa Lathan’s Toronto Film Festival-bound feature directorial debut, “On the Come Up.” “In this fairytale my father was once a king/Now I’m chasing his dream,” Bri explains, “The greatest rapper Garden Heights had ever seen.”
Based on the novel by “The Hate U Give” author Angie Thomas, the film sees Bri pursuing her rap ambitions as her home life goes through some major upheaval. “Mom got clean three years ago/Doing her best not to let it show,” Bri rhymes. Her mother, played by Lathan, has also just lost her job, and the family is on the brink of being unhoused.
Bri’s manager (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) urges her to channel her pain into her songs. Meanwhile, a mentor (Cliff “Method Man” Smith) encourages her after she freezes at her first rap battle. “You got it in you,” he says. “Right song, at the right time, then boom. You gonna be on the come up.”
Thomas is among “On the Come Up’s” executive producers, and Kay Oyegun (“This Is Us”) penned the script.
Lathan is up for an Emmy for her guest arc on “Succession.” She previously directed a segment of Covid-19 anthology “With/In.” She starred in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s beloved romance-sports drama “Love & Basketball,” and counts “Harley Quinn,” “Shots Fired,” and “Something New” among her other acting credits. Next, Lathan will star alongside Uzo Aduba and Aunjanue Ellis in “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat.” Tina Mabry is directing the friendship drama from Prince-Bythewood’s script.
Another project about rising female rappers, Issa Rae’s HBO Max comedy “Rap Sh!t,” will air its season finale Thursday, September 1. Radha Blank’s award-winning 2020 feature, “The Forty-Year-Old Version,” is the story of a struggling playwright who decides to reinvent herself as a rapper as her 40th birthday approaches.
“On the Come Up” will make its world premiere at TIFF, which runs September 8-18. The film will be available on Paramount+ September 23.
