Metacritic Film

Young Rebels

Starring Adrianci Gonzalez, Alexander Guerra Hoez, and Alexis Rodriguez

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Gowanus Projections
Documentary  |  Musical
70 minutes | Color
USA / Cuba
Released In Theaters August 3, 2005

Young Rebels follows seven Cuban hip-hop artists and producers over the course of a Havana summer. Battling on the stage or at home, the characters' personal travels collide in a summer of explosive concerts, intense debate, unbearable heat, and rising tensions as government agencies begin to institutionalize hip-hop's street roots. (Gowanus Productions)

DIRECTED BY
Anna Boden
Ryan Fleck

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

60 / 100

Critic Reviews

75 Christian Science Monitor
An eye-opening movie, both socially and politically.
75 New York Post
A labor of love, Young Rebels is essential viewing for anyone who wants to stay ahead of the hip-hop curve.
60 Village Voice Robert Christgau
At least as sharp as "Buena Vista Social Club."
60 The New York Times
Though it could do with fewer talking-head interviews and more extended clips from these impassioned live performances, Young Rebels is essential viewing for anyone interested in rap music, free speech issues or the youth culture of contemporary Cuba.
60 The Onion (A.V. Club)
The documentary is short, vividly shot, and packed with interviews in which desperate young men and women let loose their personal philosophies. In fact, there's so much philosophizing that there's not much time left for rap.
50 Variety
In striving simultaneously to cover the transplanted rap scene, sample a wide range of groups, and give an unbiased picture of Cuban society, helmers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who have hitherto worked in short-form, blur the overall shape of their picture.

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