Where to begin? So much to discuss with this film. A good place to start is with the vetoes.
I really wanted everyone to watch the 30 for 30 on Bo Jackson because he is the greatest athlete of all time. No one could play at that kind of elite level like Jackson and it probably would have been watched until Joe reared his head for the first time of the round to vindictively veto this good film because I vetoed his first choice. Yeah, I still refuse to purchase Amazon Prime for a documentary about soccer - unless it's about Pele. No ragrets!
I had a feeling Joe would do that so I had another 30 for 30 in mind over the 2003 Bartman game. Since he couldn't veto again, I thought I was in the clear and then Bryan surprisingly appears to spend his veto. His reasoning was that he's seen some good movies and wanted to keep that going. Mind you, this comes from the guy who picked a movie worse than Drinking Buddies and said he would never veto. I think it is because my second pick was over the Cubs. That didn't bother me either but I thought it was great when he stated his displeasure of it (score!). I almost picked Four Days in October so Phil could veto but I think everyone had enough of the veto power and I didn't want to read Bobby argue nonsense about Mark "I had one moment and a bunch of errors" Bellhorn. Frickin' Bellhorn.
Then I chose Boyz N the Hood. I saw this awhile ago but needed a refresher and was thrilled Netflix had it. I don't particularly pay attention to directors unless its Whedon, Spielberg, Bay, Bruckheimer, Burton, and Lucas. Outside of them, it matters little to me. "Can you make a good film?" is the only requirement directors have for me. In John Singleton's case, he made a cult classic.
Three years ago NPR did a story on "Morning Edition" on Boyz N the Hood and John Ridley interviewed Singleton about the film. Singleton stated that while he loved the films from the 80s, they did not look like him or his situation. So what Singleton, who was taught directing by Francis Ford Coppola and was 22 years old, made was a film about a group of black friends growing up South Central Los Angeles. What came from it, well, not even Singleton could foretell.
The importance of Boyz N the Hood is opens up the eyes of suburbia, white America to life in of hoodlem, black America. Gang violence, crack heads, single motherhood were all out of surburbia, white America's mainstream in 1991. Watching the film nowadays, there is nothing shocking about it. If a young teen watched Boyz N the Hood today, he/she would think he watched everyday life. For me, on the other hand, growing up in Hicktown, Indiana, this was pretty surreal. I remember watching it for the first time in 1996 and I couldn't believe what I saw. High school students shooting each other because one felt disrespected? For real? For a 14 year old in Hicktown, Indiana, that question was on my mind.
Mostly, the movie had great acting. This film put Cuba Gooding, Jr., on the map. He was sensational. He owned the scene when was confronted by the black cop and returned to Brandi's house. His frustration with his inability to fight with the police glowed. The viewer could sense his anger in that scene. Another great part was when he felt compelled to lie to his father Furious about the girl he did not bang. Viewer had no clue that it was a lie until the next scene when Ricky gets in the blue slugbug.
Next was Laurence Fishburne who absolutely nailed the part of Furious Styles. He wanted to be the father apparently he never had and/or what Doughboy, Ricky, or Chris never had. Was he a rough father? Absolutely but it was necessary. Furious knew what he had to do and he did it but did so in a positive way. You know Tre wanted to please Furious and that was evident when Tre returns home after leaving the car. He walks into the house, Furious sees him, Tre walks closer, Furious turns around into his room and slams the door. No words in that scene, just emotion of disappointment.
Ice Cube playing Doughboy, or Darren, was pretty fantastic. He nailed the hustler role probably because he came from Compton and rapped about it in the N.W.A. and his early recordings. He understood that role and life but more importantly than all of that was his ability to capture it on screen. This was Ice Cube's first acting role and there was no trace of it. I was able to put myself in Doughboy's shoes when he shot those two other guys. They took his brother away from him. When that happens, you want to pull the trigger and in this case he did. Good stuff from Ice Cube.
Angela Basset's role was minor. She was Reva Styles, Tre's mother. She wanted to play a role in his life but she ultimately chose her career over her son. Yes, they had an agreement, which Tre violated, but she could have been there for him. What we don't see is the role she played from 1984 - 1991. We are led to believe, however, that she was absent from Tre's rearing. Basset is a fantastic actress and her best role is when she played Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It?, which oddly enough Laurence Fishburne plays Ike. Definitely worth a view.
The aspect that bugged me was what I call the go betweens - when someone talks at one location and then the viewer sees another person saying something else in a different location but apparently they are saying it at the same time. For instance when Doughboy was talking to the crew about something I forget and Tre was talking to Brandi about their relationship, that sequence of go betweens was choppy and bad. It made me squirm and I couldn't deal with that. In its defense, it was 1989/1990 and that sequence can be fine tuned today but regardless, it annoyed me.
I also didn't appreciate the misogynistic nature of Doughboy. Cube did fine playing it but it played up to the stereotype that black men are stupid sexists. Doughboy had a different upbringing than his half brother Ricky and maybe he felt slighted by his mother for that but that is no reason to consistently tell a woman those things.
All in all, it was a raw story that opened up the eyes of white America. This film came out before the O.J. trial, before the Rodney King incident, and before gangster rap emerged into mainstream radio. Boyz N the Hood was really good.
Grade: A-
1. Shouldn’t it be “Boyz ‘n da Hood”
ReplyDelete2. This movie was sad in the emotionally moving kind of way. It was also educational assuming this is what Compton is really like. Two big pluses for this one. The beginning with the kids seemed almost pointless, maybe someone can convince me otherwise.
3. One thing I really hate in movies is the text at the end describing what happened. Who cares? Chel loves that stuff, I think it’s awful.
4. Drew mentioned the Cuba Gooding breakdown scene. The sound of his crying and anger was nearly identical to Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. Kissel will probably tear that scene apart.
I’m going B or B-. I wouldn’t watch it again, but it was an engaging/enjoyable/educational experience.
Boyz N the Hood all boils down to Doughboy's final speech. There's national interest in Yugoslavia and Somalia and whatever else was happening in the early 90's around the world, but no one cares about decaying black neighborhoods. First-time writer/director John Singleton's movie is always reiterating this, though he tells just as much as he shows.
ReplyDeleteLet's get the bad out of the way first. The 911 calls and gunshots over the opening credits are jarring and powerful, but it's wasted with the opening shot on a Stop sign. Furious's lecture about gentrification does not belong in this movie or any movie. Make a documentary if you have to fit that into your narrative. The reveal of the SAT's scores is pure manipulation on top of an organically-sad event. Was there a viewer who was unmoved by Ricky's death and the raw reaction to it, only to be pushed over the edge by the score reveal? It's just unnecessary, as that sequence has enough.
I am in complete agreement with Bryan about the postscript at the end. This can work in a movie based on real events, but otherwise, the only good version of I can think of is in Animal House, where the idea is made fun of. This one was especially bad, because everything in it was communicated in the entire movie, or even in the preceding scene. I would guess it was a producer who insisted on a less-depressing ending.
My biggest problem was how one-dimensionally the villains are depicted. The crew in the red car are never given any humanizing moments in what is otherwise a very human movie. If the point of the film is to humanize and familiarize this environment with a wider, whiter audience, then why are these worthless assholes even here? The black cop is more understandable, because all cops are enemies here, but the red car crew likely had the same issues and privations that Tre, Doughboy, and the rest had. Singleton has no interest or inclination to give them the same treatment.
Sean mentioned it earlier, but I think the conversation of those dudes while they were eating right before they were shot was important.
DeleteAlso, any thoughts on my POV that it is important that Doughboy die or else we're just glorifying his vengeance.
I think Doughboy questioning what he did quickly took any glorification out of it. "I don't even know how i feel about it..." "Somebody could be trying to smoke me tomorrow.... and it doesn't even matter."
DeleteMaking him die could be interpreted as saying he deserved it for what he did... but that just circles back to the cycle of violence and vengeance, anyway. Was it likely that Doughboy would die... yes, but that was acknowledged.
Also, I'm not sure the SAT scores were for us... I mean, we all knew he'd pass. But it was more for his mother... and I could see that scene being pretty realistic. Did we need to see the score... no, probably not, but it was sort of a finish to the scene when he was walking away from his mother when the mail came in. Then again, why show us the pan of the results then? So I get your point. Are we supposed to think Ricky deserved to die less because of his future?
Deletehttp://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/08/michael_brown_and_our_obsession_with_respectable_black_victims.html
The conversation is all they get, and that scene felt more about Doughboy creeping into the frame than what was being spoken. It was to generate tension, not empathy.
DeleteI very much think the SAT scores were for us, in that they were there to rub salt in the wound. It doesn't matter what RIcky's life might have turned out to be, the important thing is that he's a kind-hearted kid who was killed for nothing. It's sad no matter what. The SAT's don't add anything, so they shouldn't be there. I can imagine a crowded theater with Singleton in the back. The audience is already crying, but there's an extra gasp or sob from the SAT reveal, and Singleton clenches his fist in victory.
DeleteIf it's an audience full of average white people... i could buy that. We continuously need value attached to victims for there to be any sort of mass interest... as that article talks about.
DeleteThat all being said, the positives outweigh the negatives. Singleton inserts a lot of subtle lines and touches about the vagaries of Compton, when he's not blowing it with Stop signs. The first conversation Tre has after the flash forward takes AIDS and crack as a given. With the exception of Furious, it seems like there are no males anywhere between the ages of 20 and 50. There are always helicopters and patrol cars and gunfire in the background. Much like Taxi Driver, Singleton creates a complete and detailed world while also incorporating the atmosphere of the time, making Boyz N the Hood an historical document as much as it is a movie.
ReplyDeleteDrew mentioned how much he disliked Doughboy's sexism, but I bought it as an outgrowth of the environment. To live under violence and police abuse and poverty is to be constantly emasculated, and the community overcompensates with hyper-masculinity. Every slight must be confronted, and neither side can back down because of the need to not be completely powerless, which inevitably leads to violence. If masculinity is the end-all be-all, femininity is something to be feared and disrespected. Singleton doesn't condone Doughboy's behavior but I thought he did a great job explaining it.
Like Drew, I was also a big fan of the acting. This is probably the best thing Cuba Gooding Jr.'s, ever done. He was revelatory in Snow Dogs but I prefer him here. I'm not a fan of the breakdown scene in Good Will Hunting because it feels contrived and out-of-nowhere. On top of everything else he does, Tre's two breakdown scenes are earned 1000 times over, and Gooding crushes them with his flailing powerlessness. He's visibly struggling to hold it together when he gets guns pointed in his face, and the will required to do that justifiably explodes. Fishburne exudes a lot of gravitas and wisdom, despite the character's problems, and I think he's one of the great movie dads (logged for a future top 5 list). Morris Chestnut has a lot of charisma as Ricky, a strong version of the dumb affable jock/best friend, and the actor that played him as a kid was great casting in the this-kid-looks-like-the-adult way and the talent way with his earnest, dog-eared disappointment. I didn't think Ice Cube was trying too hard for most of the movie, but he brought his A-game for his final scene.
My takeaway from this viewing of Boyz N the Hood was how much the beats in it resembled any other coming-of-age movie. The characters try and get laid, hang out with their friends, go to parties, squeeze in some homework, think about the next stage of their lives. Except here, instead of principals and truant officers and abusive seniors chasing the protagonist, a gun is likely to get pointed in his face by a cop or a rival. Singleton succeeds in making the viewer empathize with his characters, but he tries too hard in key places, such that I think the postscript and the opening are bad scenes. Overall, the movie doesn't get too bogged down in its flaws and its strengths are significant. This is a B.
I remember this movie coming out. I knew it was an important movie then and I know it's and important movie now. I also really enjoyed the movie then and I still enjoy it. However, I absolutely enjoy it on an entirely different level now and understand just how this movie was important.
ReplyDeleteSo what is so great about this flick?
First of all its the message. In 1991, I don't know how much mainstream America knew or cared about what was going on in our cities. The cycle of violence and hopelessness and just how damaging it was to have no positive males (and often females) in the lives of children. We start with 4 kids and one has a strong-minded father. We meet back up with them as they're graduating high school and only one of them is properly on track education-wise. Of course it is the kid with the father-figure. Everyone else is stuggling. Doughboy is getting out of prison. Chris is in a wheel chair. Ricky may be an athlete, but he already has a kid and his future rests on him having to perform on a standardized test. When I first watched this film, I thought of it as a "Hey. Look how awful the inner cities are." Rewatching I realize that the message goes further and connects parenting as a solution to some of these problems and in particular for young males.
Fishburn and Furious Styles is the antidote to Tre's behavior issues. Fishburn plays the role incredibly well and is the most important character in this movie. Without Furious Styles, we're watching a gang revenge movie. What is great about the character is that he seems fairly real. He touches on subjects that are touchy, like talking about sex. He's stern with his advice, not pulling this bullshit we see in many movies that refuse to allow good parents to be in any sort of way judgmental. (I get why we shouldn't be slut-shaming our daughters, but at the same time, teenage girls -and boys- really shouldn't be having sex because they're not mature enough. I also understand that is happens, so a conversation is needed that says, "Hey, sex can fuck shit up.") We also see him somewhat fail and struggle. He's an excellent movie dad and I look forward to that list, Kissel. I will say the gentrification conversation was out of place for him, but more on that later.
Our protagonist Tre is the person that most of America is going to relate to. He's smart, good-looking and non-threatening. This movie could not have centered around the other boys because much of the audience could not have related to athlete Ricky, the criminal Doughboy or the crippled Chris. High school Tre doesn't start as angry. He's an affable kid trying to get laid and makes up stories to exaggerate his exploits. If this character starts off as angry, I think Singleton loses the audience he's preaching to. Singleton needs you to love this character and then fuck with him so he can fuck with your emotions in a way that makes you, a person who's never set food in these neighborhoods, relate to someone from Crenshaw. Gooding Jr. absolutely nails every part of it. If your emotions weren't touched by the cop scene then I'm not sure why you bother watching any movies better than Fast and the Furious.
Ricky is probably the most one-dimensional of the main characters. He's a good-looking athlete who people would want to be, but know they're not. He's the easiest to root for and you want him to pass that test. Where Kissel saw the reveal of the grades as manipulative, I disagree. Ricky didn't just represent a likeable young man, but he was also the physical representation of the idea of potential. He can get out and do things if he puts his mind to it. And, by god, he succeeded. But then he is randomly gunned down. This is incredibly important. Without him succeeding and having it ripped from him, we have a movie that simply says, "If you work hard, you will succeed, therefor anyone who doesn't succeed, doesn't work hard." That just isn't reality. We needed a successful character to be taken away arbitrarily in a manner that shows the audience that sometimes people fail due to causes that they can't control. Without those test scores, Ricky can't be that character.
ReplyDeleteThis brings us to Doughboy. Whereas Ricky was a kind and soft kid, Doughboy was cold and mean. We see their mother coddle the baby Ricky and batter the criminal Duoghboy. Doughboy is important because he represents the person most of America is afraid of. He's crass, treats women horribly and is a scary Black man carrying a gun. In the end, we find ourselves rooting for him to gun down the rival gang-members from his gold Cadillac. He's our anti-hero who gets the revenge that we, like Tre, want but could never do ourselves. We can't relate to him and we find him distasteful until the moment we need someone like him, someone who is lesser than ourselves, to do our dirty work. Ice Cube does a fine job for the most part, but fucking nails it in his final speech. A speech that doesn't feel forced or inorganic. He shows that acting really isn't that hard and how it's inexcusable to have bad acting in good movies or shows (looking at you, The Wire).
This brings me to end of movie statements about where the characters went. I think in this case it is important that we have them, especially for Doughboy. We end up rooting for this gangster vengeance against these three human beings. Doughboy becomes our hero. But that is not the point of this movie. Singleton doesn't want you leaving the movie theatre thinking Doughboy is someone to root for. In order for him and his disgusting actions not to be glorified, Doughboy is killed off far too soon. I remember watching this when I was younger, probably the late 90's, and thinking how sad it was that Doughboy died too. I didn't want him to. But of course he had to die. That was the life he was living. It's important to show that even tough guys carrying guns don't get out of this situation. Doughboy needed to die, but it didn't need to be part of the movie.
So who was this movie made for? I think the intended audience here is important in evaluating this movie. I've touched on it above, but I think this was made for two audiences in mind. The first audience is us. "Normal", white Americans who don't know this life. This was a trip into a world that we didn't know existed and didn't care to know existed. This film tells us you need to pay attention. I love that if compares foreign wars to our own battles in country. We all expect conservatives to not care about these things, right? But I think this does a great job of shaming liberals as well by saying, "Great. You care about all these people across the world and want someone to help them, but you won't go into your own cities and help your fellow Americans." The other target audience are the people in the film. The people in the inner cities who had an important story to tell, but didn't have a way to tell it. Gangster rap in the late 80's started it and Boyz N Da Hood brought it into everyone's living rooms along with the Rodney King trial and riots.
ReplyDeleteAs far as nuts and bolts, some of the editing could have been better as some of the scenes and transitions felt choppy. I actually loved the scene where Gooding Jr's voice was voicing over the character conversations. It was a light-hearted moment in a pretty serious movie. Plus, the whole scene was silly and obviously made up. For it. I loved much of the score and most of the music as well.
The biggest negative is the gentrification scene. The rest of the movie says a message through a story and examples. This scene forces a message into the story. It could have been done better (subtly) or not been in there at all.
I keep thinking that this is an, but that Gentrification scene really is bothersome.
A-
I liked the Stop sign open. It was previously mentioned that the nation’s focus was elsewhere- Singleton shows this with the plane flying over the stop sign before zooming in and telling the audience to stop and redirect their focus because this is happening right here at home. It is a visual bookend to Doughboy’s speech at the end.
ReplyDeleteThe scene with the kids at the beginning was there to show the viewer that the violence in these neighborhoods is there and does not discriminate. Middle America often holds the belief that it’s just thugs killing thugs and one less thug on the street committing crimes but ignores the impact this has on those around it. They view looking at a dead body as something exciting to do on the way to school and walk on past a beat down like it’s somebody playing catch.
I’ll also defend Doughboy’s sexist portrayal. In his mother’s first scene she is berating him about who knows what and openly shows that Ricky is her preferred son. We find out later they have different fathers and their friends recognize they’re treated differently based on this. Also, as young Doughboy is being arrested his mother turns her back on him and walks inside shutting the door behind her. The one woman who is most prominent in his life has given up on him as a young child. Doughboy even sums it up himself saying he doesn’t have a brother or a mom at the end.
I loved the song when Doughboy is getting arrested as a child “ooh child things are gonna get easier” We know damn well this song is not a representation of the rest of the film, their lives aren’t going to be getting easier any time soon.
I didn’t buy Tre’s sex story and I don’t think Furious was buying either. He wasn’t going to call him out on it but because he knew his son was embarrassed about it plus he got to yell at him about condoms in the process. Furious is a great movie dad made infinitely greater by the absence of other fathers and his knowledge that his presence as a strong father is the best chance Tre has at survival.
I do hate the recruiter from USC- he’s in a suit and carrying a briefcase like an admissions counselor of some sort- coaches do in home visits and they look like coaches. Also, if the kids aren’t worried about academics they only worry about it once they’re on campus to stay eligible.
Agree on the gentrification scene- I’m ok with it as a scene where Furious is teaching Tre and Rickey but it is ridiculous that they immediately gather a crowd of people.
I understand Kissel’s point about the humanity being forgotten of the crew in the red car- I can forgive that because they could probably have a similar mirroring arc to Doughboy and co. The fact we see them gunned down while eating dinner and having a similar conversation about bitches and haircuts is enough to for me to support they just happen to be a different crew.
This is about an easy of an A as a movie gets. The college recruiter and the crowd for Furious’ speech try to keep it from an A+ but those flaws are outweighed for me. A+.
I agreed completely on the Stop sign... I thought it was an important start to the film. Stop... pay attention...
DeleteThe gentrification scene didn't bother me in the least. It was Furious doing what he does... and trying to teach and help Tre understand things. The crowd didn't feel off to me, because all of them, except for the old man... came from the porch across the street. And it seemed logical to me that they'd head over together to see what somebody was ranting about in their area.
I was fine w the gentrification scene as well, Kind of surprised everyone seems so distraught over it.
DeleteThe gentrification spot was well put. Jon's thoughts are the epitome of what the average, white man feels about race relations. "No place for it and I am tired of hearing about it." This is not to say, however, that is what Jon meant by his words but it is the thought of white America.
DeleteDrew almost called me a sack of crap who was unaware of and uninterested in his privilege and the pulled it back at the last second. Thanks for that.
DeleteWhy is the gentrification scene bad? Because it's not what the movie's about and has no place in it. It's only in there to be about itself. The villains are the cops and the red-car crew, not the Koreans trying to buy land who are never on camera. This isn't a movie about root causes, it's about what it was like in this particular place at this particular time in history. Time spent listening to Furious preach unchallenged (beyond the old man's feeble rebuttal) is time that could have been spent on other characters.
These kind of speeches do not belong in narrative movies because they tell, don't show. My favorite book is Les Miserables, and it can get away with being 25% nonfiction because that's the medium. Narrative film is different. The scene with Tre and the cop communicates what it's like to be a target, to have enemies with the backing of the state, while also being about Tre and Ricky. That's a great scene, because it speaks to character first, theme second. Furious's speech doe s neither.
I just looked at the spreadsheet- this movie has definitely improved with age. I originally had a B based on memory. Kissel had C+ and went to B. Shane went from B+ to A- and Drew went C+ to A-. Apparently movies of cultural significance require us have lived a little before they mean something to us.
ReplyDeleteI just remembered the bad things and the broad strokes. The subtle, less memorable touches give it a boost.
DeleteWhen I told my sister that I had to watch Boyz n the Hood, she ask "haven't you seen that a bunch of times already?" I've watched this movie numerous times now... although the most recent before this viewing was a few years ago. I had this between a B- and a B before, and I can't say my feelings on it have changed much over the years.
ReplyDeleteEverybody's talking about the message.. which is jarring and significant. I can't help, however, but think about how little white America still cares. Ice Cube could sit down and recite his final lines today, and all of it still holds true. I guess now it's 'they know it... but still don't show, or don't care..." That's not to say it didn't matter. It came at the right time, with the explosion of gangsta rap that made white youth want to see Boyz n the Hood for all the wrong reasons. N.W.A., Ice-T, and Too Short made the life sound glamorous to those who didn't actually have to live it. America needed (needs) this movie, and it was a major statement and a pretty bold movie by a 24 year old rookie director.
Cuba Gooding Jr. clearly stood out among the cast. His emotion... his expressions and tone were vital to the movie. His performance, however, highlighted some less than stellar jobs for me. As good as Gooding was in the scene with the cops, they were equally as bad. I couldn't stand the cop's facial expressions... especially in the scene when Furious and Tre were waiting for them. Speaking of Furious... Lawrence (still Larry here!) Fishburne gets the runner up award. He had a great character to play and was spot on with it. Ice Cube, Bassett, Long, and Farrell were all fine. I have mixed feelings on Morris Chestnut as Ricky (I almost typed an e in there). At times he felt to blend in fine with the rest of the cast, and others I just felt he was outacted by not only Gooding, but everybody.
The characters will well written and presented. I think Shane does a good job of breaking them down with how they all fit together to tell the story. Most of the shots were good for the moments and the pacing was done well to capture the necessary emotional build up and attachment for Ricky's death. Most of the soundtrack was fantastic, but there were times that the score felt a little out of touch with the scene... especially toward the beginning.
One thing that sort of bothered me... I'm pretty sure that Reva (Tre's mother) was wearing the exact same shirt at the dinner with Furious as Brenda (Ricky and Doughboy's mother) was wearing when the recruiter came over. That's something I would almost never notice except for I was forced to noticed the shirt when Brenda's shirt was the same color as Ricky's.
That white America didn't listen isn't the movie's fault. But I think it's important that -more- media with a black voice was spurred by this movie.
DeleteAnd I can't help but think about this movie and what is happening in Ferguson, Missouri right now.
Right, I'm not saying that it was the movie's fault... and didn't mean to imply that at all, if I did so.
DeleteI haven't read much on Ferguson yet... and there's also the guy getting shot by poilice in an Ohio Wal-mart for picking up, playing with, a toy guy.
The movie also makes me think of the cities up around here.... Gary and Chicago. Especially how the supposed solution to high crime areas like Cabrini Green and the Robert Taylor homes was to tear them down and redevelop the buildings.
Well the Cabrini Green area has low crime now, it wasn't redevelopment though. It was demolish and start over. A lot of the population from there has headed south to NW Indiana, Danville, Rantoul, and Urbana.
DeleteIsn't that what redevelopment usually is? (I guess my wording of redevelop the buildings, should have been redevelop the area... although some of the original row houses are still there).
DeleteIs that a good solution though? Does it address the general issue of these communities or the mindset that we're shown in the film?
I am glad Ashli mentioned it before I did. For some reason, I thought Rodney King happened in 1993 but a simple Google or Yahoo! search can bring about the correct answer. With that stated, it was filmed before the Rodney King beating so it is good Ashli clarified that. Perhaps the King beating helped propel this movie into its success but it is probably unintentional.
DeleteCheck out The Pruitt-Igoe Myth for a really good documentary about housing discrimination and gentrification. Bonus for being about St. Louis and its abysmal race relations.
Delete
ReplyDeleteI think Doughboy's attitude toward women fit his character perfectly. He's spent his entire life trying to get the attention of his mother, and so now the only way he feels he can get a woman's attention is to talk down and call them deragatory terms. It's a defense mechanism that allows him to think if he gets their attention it worked, and if he doesn't get the attention, he was right in calling them names. That's not to blame his mother for his actions in anyway. It's a product of the environment that Singleton was trying to show us. I think it's pretty typical for people to find some sort of negative outlet to get that attention.
I'm on the side who's against the 'where they are now' text here. Doughboy basically told us he's going to die, that somebody is going to be out for him, and that it doesn't even matter. And honestly, I felt that leaving us with a positive statement about Tre's future was unnecessary and possibly even counteractive to the rest of the story about this environment. I think we had a pretty great ending that was knocked down a little bit by adding those in there.
I'm sure this won't be the last time I watch this movie... it's one of those that when I see on the guide, I'll tune in. And while it's significant and powerful, I don't feel that it's a great overall movie... but certainly a good one. I'm stuck in between a B and B+ on it now, but feel like it deserves the +, so I'll lean there for now.
Why the B+ and not an A-? What keeps it from the A range?
DeleteI've just never been wowed by the movie. It's significance and what's it's trying to show us, yes... but not the overall movie. B+ is still pretty high praise, no?
DeleteAnd that end bit really does bother me. It not only fails to add anything to the film for me, it took something away. I shouldn't have to know that Tre is gonna be all right and that he managed to take his love life with him across the country. I think it would have been better left unknown, especially after what Doughboy said.
Bobby- totally agree on the end bit. I didn't need the extras about Tre, it should be assumed from the way he was raised (once of the main focal points of the movie) that he WILL be more than ok.
DeleteThe movie did come out after the Rodney King incident, which was in March 1991.
ReplyDeleteAlso, gangsta rap was definitely already in the mainstream, perhaps not to the peak it'd reach, but still there. Too Short's 'Life is.. Too Short' album was a major success 2 years prior, and NWA was pretty much the catalyst of the boom in that time. It was more because I listened to that music that I wanted to see this movie, Menace II Society, Juice, etc than anything else. Personally, I may have only been about 10, so I was more into MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice at this time... but that quickly turned to more Eazy, Dre, and Tupac, especially once middle school began. But the kids a couple years older than me (including my sister and her friends) were already there... and my parents were very lenient about the music we listened to.
Speaking of Tupac, 1991 also saw his first, and and possibly most politically driven, album... though toward the end of the year.
Also, meant to mention... Biopics are coming for NWA and for Tupac... Singleton said to be attached to both, but no longer on the former. Ice Cube's son, though.... will be playing his father in the movie!
Not too excited about Singleton directing a Tupac biopic. He hasn't been able to recreate his success in 23 years, and it's not like there's going to be a bunch of chances to make a Tupac movie.
DeleteYeah, I'm not sure how i feel about it... though I'm also not sure who I would choose to do it. It's my single favorite individual musical artist of all time... so I'll definitely be interested.
DeleteFirst off, sorry I dropped the ball on Frances Ha! Y'all are plowing through these movies FAST.
ReplyDeleteI can't really say I enjoyed watching Boyz N The Hood...but it was a great movie. Pretty depressing though. I googled 2 things once i finished this one: 1.) was this movie based on a true story? and 2.) when did the Rodney King beatings take place? Before or after this movie? Turns out it was filmed before and released after, which is interesting. The King beating had already drawn attention to this culture, which in turn surely boosted interest in the movie.
I guess it wasn't actually based on a true story (the little tid bits they did at the end made me think maybe it was)- though I'm sure it isn't far off from a lot of kids stories (depressingly enough). This movie came out in 1991, which means it was even more shocking then than it is now 20+ years later. I'm guessing that this wasn't something that was really being talked about in the news, this culture of terrible gun crime, drugs and violence among African American youth. For the people that did know about what was going on, I would assume that there was a pretty gross stereotype that most of those partaking were uneducated, unmotivated, etc. Rickey's character does a great job in busting that stereotype. Great, smart, talented kid with all the potential in the world. Doughboy is the perfect counterpart to Rickey- caught up in the lifestyle. Would Doughboy have turned out differently had he been brought up anywhere else and not been sucked in? Possibly.
And then there's Tre. His mom sends him to his dad's to ensure that he grows up to be a great man. Laurence Fishburne's character is great and very well acted (and he was in Vietnam- same as Apocalypse Now. What a coincidence). I love that he always gives Tre a choice to do the right thing. He isn't overbearing and doesn't force anything besides the fact that he wants his son to make good choices in life. Getting out of the car when Doughboy is hell bent on revenge is proof that his dad has done a great job.
Were any of the acting performances amazing? Not really. But the story is so compelling it doesn't matter. Cuba Gooding Jr. was good, Laurence Fishburne steals the movie for me. Ice Cube is fine.
I saw Shane pose the question "Who is this movie for?" I think this movie is for everyone. Rich, poor, black, white. It's an eye opener. The director does a great job at giving us a look at all the issues happening here: misogyny, teen pregnancy, single mothers, gentrification (the speech Fishburne gives in front of the billboard is clutch) etc. I know that personally, growing up in the burbs in Carmel, Indiana, this is about as far from my life as it can get. I was shocked to see how things were being handled. Revenge killings, drugs, no fear of anything. Love that the opening scene is of a Stop sign. Pretty telling on the message of the entire movie.
Do I want to watch it again? Not really. But it's a great movie. Not surprising that it was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. Well deserved. A- for me.
The race riots of Carmel in 1999 were brutal though, right?
ReplyDeleteNice thought, Ashli, on the film's correct audience. It is perhaps made for everyone, but I am afraid white American will continue ignoring it. Nice post.
DeleteThanks, Drew. And I agree that white America will probably continue to ignore. I must admit that I did until this movie review. But I'm very glad I watched and definitely learned.
DeleteAnd yes, Shane. Thanks for bringing it up. 1999 was a tough, tough year to be in Carmel. What with that 1 black family moving in and all.
Since I’m ridiculously late to the game on this one, I’m going to keep it fairly short. Nearly everything I was thinking was touched on already – the cultural impact, the character analysis, & the fact that Cuba Gooding Jr was on fire in the acting department. I’m surprised so many of you liked Ice Cube’s performance, or really anyone’s performance outside someone whose last name in the movie wasn’t “Styles.”
ReplyDeleteKissel brought up the world being built, and I have to agree that that was done masterfully. Things were introduced that really didn’t have much of a bearing on the overall story (the gentrification has been discussed in length, and the crack whore with her babies in the street was pointless but only comes up in the ancillary).
This movie actually felt structured in a similar way to Taxi Driver in that we get a lot of character and world exposition to help explain the final 30 minutes of what is about to happen. Everything that happened in the end made perfect sense based on these characters and the world they lived in, something I didn’t necessarily feel with Taxi Driver. As an aside, was I the only one on the first viewing who was just waiting for Ricky to get killed the entire time, even when they were kids? The final 30 minutes of the movie went exactly how I expected them too… and that’s a good thing in this case, otherwise it would’ve broken the experience and the motiviations of the characters presented to the audience.
+ Well-realized world
+ Exposition reached its logical conclusion
- Some of the world building led to extemporaneous elements
- Some really shoddy acting in some places
Grade: B+
I like the Taxi Driver comparison
DeleteI thought I hated that structure too, but it worked for me here. Again, maybe when it fits what I expect. I still don't buy Bickle's actions at the end of Taxi Driver, but again, that's just me.
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