This award-winning short film has been doing the rounds at film festivals over the past couple of years and is now getting a welcome online release. When she turned 60, poet, artist and all-round creative force Joy France decided to “grow old playfully” and challenged herself to do 60 new things. This film picks up on Joy’s adventures a few years later, when she’s “living it large” as the creative in residence at Manchester’s Afflecks Palace and about to subject herself to her very first rap battle.
Produced and directed by Northern Heart Films’ Natasha Hawthornthwaite, Joy Uncensored is a tale about fighting against the norm and the power of creativity to not only transform lives but bring people together. Joy is front and centre in this story, an inspiring woman who refuses to succumb to any kind of old lady stereotype and who never once tries to play the sympathy card.
Indeed, Joy is, on camera at least, pretty fearless as she enters the braying world of the rap battlers to face off against King of the Ronalds, a young lad who launches into a savage (and sometimes darkly funny) attack on her. This is tense, excellently captured stuff. Don’t worry though, Joy’s return in the battle will leave you whooping as the young lad is firmly and brilliantly put in his place.
There is a slightly uncomfortable edge to the film and if you’re easily offended, you might find this a difficult watch at times. The rap battles are, as Joy informs us, notorious for their racism, homophobia and violent misogyny, and whilst Joy comes away from the experience claiming that “the kids are alright really”, we only have her word for it. Sure, there is something to be learnt about the power of rap and the assumptions one might have about the rap battlers themselves, and the attack on Joy works because she’s given the right to answer back on camera (and does so brilliantly). A later snippet of a young woman berating someone for their weight before casually throwing out an ableist insult goes unchecked however. I’m not entirely convinced that all the rap battlers are just working out some stuff with some not-so-light-hearted banter. Sometimes prejudice and violence are just that, and should be called out.
All the same, this is a powerful, inspiring film about taking risks and facing your fears, whatever your age. Definitely worth a watch.
Watch Joy Uncensored right here:
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