‘Bomb’ tries to paint taggers in tragic light

The architecture of New York City is the canvas for graffiti artists Blest (Mark Webber) and Buk 50 (Gano Grills) in writer-director Adam Bhala Lough’s hip-hop fueled drama, “Bomb the System.” The duo leave their brightly colored scrawls across the urban landscape in nocturnal “bombing” runs with the police in constant pursuit while philosophically discussing their need to “write.”

Lough’s impressive, if uneven, debut feature captures the adrenaline rush and contradictory nature of the simultaneously creative and criminal activity but stumbles in its attempt to justify it as an art form. Collaborating closely with composer El P and veteran editor Jay Rabinowitz -- who’s worked with Jim Jarmusch, among others -- Lough finds inspiration in the beats and rhythms of the music, giving the film’s pacing a suitably jagged edge. Likewise, the film’s visuals explode the primary colors used by the graffiti artists like neon across the dark alleys and shadowy fire escapes they favor.

The highly stylized tags made with markers and spray paint generally consist of the writers’ names in large, interlocking letters or intricately laced initials. It is their primary means of expression and their way of proclaiming their identities. For Blest and Buk 50, whose real names are Anthony and Justin, respectively, graffiti is every bit as addictive as the various narcotics that fuel their nightly runs. Their crew has become one of Manhattan’s most notorious, and they are targeted by the NYPD’s Vandal Squad, created to crack down on graffiti.

When Kevin (Jade Yorker), Justin’s younger brother and a tagger in training under the nom de spray can of Lune, is beaten and arrested by a rogue member of the squad, the almost comically corrupt Bobby Cox (Al Sapienza), war is declared on the cops. Anthony, however, is distracted by a young female bomber named Alex (Jaclyn DeSantis), and a rift forms with Justin, who questions Blest’s commitment to the cause.

What that cause is is open to debate. Some of the film’s weaker moments come when its characters try to rationalize their need to create art in the form of tags. It’s an impassioned argument, but much of it sounds like mere rhetoric without a legitimate voice of dissent. Anthony and Justin are obviously talented and espouse the inherent need to make their mark, but when contrasted with the far more political work of Alex and her friends, it seems more like ego.

Also hurting the film is the fact that the central character, Anthony, is so self-absorbed. A white kid from suburban Queens, his existence in Manhattan is almost dreamlike, a homage to his late older brother, Lazaro, a legendary tagger who scrawled his name on the Brooklyn Bridge the night he died. There is a sense Anthony is slumming in this underworld of gonzo art -- which Lough portrays with great authenticity -- and that he can escape. His resistance to the options he has -- such as a pending art school scholarship -- and his obliviousness to the needs of his friends undercut the sense of tragedy “Bomb the System” aspires to.

*

‘Bomb the System’

MPAA rating: R for pervasive language, drug use, some violence and sexuality/nudity

A Palm Pictures release. Writer-director Adam Bhala Lough. Producers Ben Rekhi, Sol Tryon. Executive producers Kanwal Rekhi, Mark Webber. Director of photography Ben Kutchins. Editor Jay Rabinowitz. Costume designer Harwood Lee. Music El P. Production designer Jon Nissenbaum. Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes.

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