Craig Brewer’s Sundance hit Hustle & Flow features a done-to-death rags-to-riches premise of an aspiring musician trying to make it big, but his impressively assured direction and writing reinvigorate its shopworn cliches with soulful punch. In charting the efforts of lowly Memphis pimp DJay (Terrence Howard) trying get his bedroom hip-hop recordings heard by the masses, Brewer is clearly in underdog-rooting territory, but it’s executed with ‘70s blaxploitation swagger (check out the opening credits, and the casting of Isaac Hayes) and steeped in the character-based grittiness of the period. To be sure there are echoes of 8 Mile and Get Rich and Die Tryin’, but Hustle & Flow is the superior film, with an electrifying and intense central performance from Howard (Crash) and an excellent supporting cast, including Taryn Manning as DJay’s hooker and Anthony Anderson, who’s better known for his comic work but turns in a terrific straight role here. Even if you're not a rap enthusiast, the scene where they put together “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp”, which won the Oscar for Best Song this year, is infectiously developed and the song thoroughly catchy.