MTV ‘Carmen’ Is Smoldering With L’Amour

What is it about Bizet’s 19th century operatic masterwork “Carmen” that makes filmmakers want to tinker?

The venerable morality play has endured no less than three cinematic adaptations, the most radical being Otto Preminger’s 1954 film “Carmen Jones,” in which the all-black ensemble lip-synced along to swaggering new lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.

Robert Townsend is the latest director to try his hand, with “MTV’s Hip Hopera: Carmen,” a radical, African American rethink. And while MTV’s silly syllogism “hip-hopera” might send a shiver down the spine of purists, Townsend’s smash-cut style and the film’s sharp, witty score does a good job of making it all cohere.

Instead of 19th century Seville, MTV’s “Carmen” is set in contemporary Philadelphia, where Sgt. Derrick Hill, a virtuous cop (Mekhi Phifer) slides down the slippery slope to ignominy and shame when he is seduced by the luscious Carmen Brown (Destiny’s Child’s Beyonce Knowles).

The film has the verve and crackle of MTV’s house style, but it’s not just empty calories; Townsend has a deft touch with the film’s musical numbers, using all manner of cinematic trickery to approximate the vertiginous, headlong rush of lust and deceit that drives the main protagonists.

Hip-hop, with its word-dense narrative drive, is such a perfect storytelling vehicle it’s a wonder more filmmakers haven’t used it, and Sekani Williams’ lyrics skillfully balance streetwise vernacular with plot.

Knowles, an acting neophyte, projects the smoldering, feline sensuality that is essential for any effective Carmen, while rapper Mos Def, who plays the corrupt lieutenant who brings about Hill’s downfall, is equally fine.

Transposing Carmen’s “opera logic”--its schematic plot and florid romanticism--onto a contemporary urban milieu in no easy feat, and Townsend deserves props for keeping it real without sacrificing the opera’s fable-like artifice.

* “MTV’s Hip Hopera: Carmen” airs tonight at 8 on MTV. The network has rated it TV-14 (may be unsuitable for children under 14).