Boyz 'N the Hood and Happy Together

John Singleton's 1991 "Boyz 'N the Hood" is leaving Netflix Instant next week. It was one of the first, if not the first, film to deal explicitly with gang violence. The most fascinating aspect of the film is its ability to humanize all characters involved. In this sense it succeeds much like how "The Wire" by David Simon succeeds. Murderers, drug dealers, and gang members are all seen as essentially human, not one-dimensional "bad guys." It has a two part structure wherein it depicts how three different kids grow up and respond differently to the surrounding hood. The dynamic between Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, and Morris Chestnut make up the most memorable scenes. Lawrence Fishburne plays Gooding Jr.'s character's---Tre's---father. In the beginning, a young Tre gets into a fight at school. He is sent home to his single mother. Tre is an intelligent boy but disrespects his peers as well as adults. His mother decides to send him to his father (who lives in the hood). She hopes Tre will learn valuable life lessons from him. The first part of the film, then, explores Tre growing up with his father in the hood and meeting young Doughboy and Doughboy's half-brother, young Ricky. The second part of the film explores how they've all dealt with the things that happened over the course of about seven or eight years in the hood. Doughboy is played by the awesome Ice Cube, and Ricky is played by Morris Chestnut. It shouldn't be missed. It really is too bad it's only streaming until the end of the month.

Wong Kar-Wai's 1997 "Happy Together," lensed by the best, Christopher Doyle, is one of my favorites from the 90s as well as from this director/DoP combo. It's filmed in color and in black & white. Every scene is magnificent. Christopher Doyle dances around and, at times, seemingly with actors Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung. Each shot is playfully experimental. The film tells the story about how the two characters attempt to renew their relationship by traveling to Argentina. As with many of Wong Kar-Wai's films, place, time, and small details (such as what the characters are wearing) are of the utmost importance. One can't be texting while watching. It has been recognized as one of the first films to depict explicitly a homosexual relationship (long before the overrated yet worthwhile experience by Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain"; in my film viewing experience, Asian directors have been much more open to such subjects). The two characters are played brilliantly by Leung (one of the best actors working today; his eyes are so sad!) and Cheung. The plot, if you can call it that, is much more melancholy and loose than "Chungking Express," and it actually feels more akin to "In the Mood for Love" even though stylistically this and the former are more alike. It reminds me of something Samuel Beckett, Jean-Paul Sartre, or maybe one of the Beatniks would have wrote. It's loose but it meditates on heavy and interesting aspects of all our lives such as love, loneliness, friendship, and letting go. The film has staying power. It will surely continue to haunt after just a single viewing. This is something very important to me when judging a film, and it is something most, if not all, of Wong Kar-Wai's films have. So, if you haven't already, be sure to check it out on Netflix Instant along with other films currently available by the contemporary master. Also: be on the lookout for his film, "Grandmaster," coming to theaters this year!