Runtime: 112 minutes
Directed by: John
Singleton
Starring: Cuba Gooding,
Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Ice Cube, Morris Chestnut, Angela Bassett
From: Columbia
'Cause the boyz n the hood are always hard, you come talkin' that trash, we'll pull your card...
Early Saturday afternoon I saw the news online that director John Singleton had suffered a stroke; as of now all I've heard is that he's still recovering in the hospital. I had seen this movie before, many years ago. IMO, he never rose to the heights of this debut feature film (where he was the first African-American and the youngest person to receive a Best Director Oscar nomination) but I still wanted to give him credit for this film. I remembered it as being very good, and a revisit proves this is still the case; it covers important themes and talking points for a certain demographic, but anyone can appreciate the filmmaking craft here.
The lives of several youths are followed in South Central LA; it is an area where black people reside and it is a tough place to live... for a variety of reasons, many young people struggle to leave the area riddled with crime & gangs. Tre has an advantage in that his dad (the amazingly named FURIOUS STYLES) is a strong father figure-tough but fair-who preaches to him “don't be like your friends” yet it is difficult when you are a teenager and your buddies aren't as focused on school or their future or getting out of the ghetto.
The first half shows the main characters seven years earlier; it introduces everyone and it becomes obvious why Tre is doing well with school and work while it is much less so for his friends, including Ricky, Doughboy, and Dooky. A nice asset is that the cast is full of talented faces... Laurence Fishburne as Furious is the most memorable yet the rest are all admirable. It is not surprising that Cuba Gooding Jr. as Tre became more famous later on and even won an Oscar. Plus, Ice Cube was a revelation in his feature film debut. What a compelling story also... even if you're a dumb white guy like me who would be among the least-likely guys that you'd want to visit a place like South Central LA with, you can understand the character's plight, why it is difficult to leave such a rough area and how parenting-or the lack thereof-is incredibly critical for a person's life.
Hopefully Singleton can recover from this medical event; it'd be great for him to return to feature films instead of television work, as has been the case for most of the past decade. Of course, him returning to a normal life is of utmost importance and takes precedence above everything else.
Early Saturday afternoon I saw the news online that director John Singleton had suffered a stroke; as of now all I've heard is that he's still recovering in the hospital. I had seen this movie before, many years ago. IMO, he never rose to the heights of this debut feature film (where he was the first African-American and the youngest person to receive a Best Director Oscar nomination) but I still wanted to give him credit for this film. I remembered it as being very good, and a revisit proves this is still the case; it covers important themes and talking points for a certain demographic, but anyone can appreciate the filmmaking craft here.
The lives of several youths are followed in South Central LA; it is an area where black people reside and it is a tough place to live... for a variety of reasons, many young people struggle to leave the area riddled with crime & gangs. Tre has an advantage in that his dad (the amazingly named FURIOUS STYLES) is a strong father figure-tough but fair-who preaches to him “don't be like your friends” yet it is difficult when you are a teenager and your buddies aren't as focused on school or their future or getting out of the ghetto.
The first half shows the main characters seven years earlier; it introduces everyone and it becomes obvious why Tre is doing well with school and work while it is much less so for his friends, including Ricky, Doughboy, and Dooky. A nice asset is that the cast is full of talented faces... Laurence Fishburne as Furious is the most memorable yet the rest are all admirable. It is not surprising that Cuba Gooding Jr. as Tre became more famous later on and even won an Oscar. Plus, Ice Cube was a revelation in his feature film debut. What a compelling story also... even if you're a dumb white guy like me who would be among the least-likely guys that you'd want to visit a place like South Central LA with, you can understand the character's plight, why it is difficult to leave such a rough area and how parenting-or the lack thereof-is incredibly critical for a person's life.
Hopefully Singleton can recover from this medical event; it'd be great for him to return to feature films instead of television work, as has been the case for most of the past decade. Of course, him returning to a normal life is of utmost importance and takes precedence above everything else.
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