The Hate U Give

First Hit: A fantastic film about the existence of racism and, as indicated here, in our police departments as well.

I’ve seen three films this year that deal directly with racism, Blindspotting, BlacKkKlansman, and this film The Hate U Give. In both Blindspotting and this film, we have a white policeman shooting and killing an unarmed black man.

The film starts with Maverick “Mav” Carter (Russell Hornsby) giving his children; Starr (Amandla Stenberg), Seven (Lamar Johnson), and Sekani (TJ Wright), “the talk.” Mav’s been to prison, he’s fought the hard life but wants to stop the cycle of violence and pain in the family.

He's giving his children the talk about how to act when they are stopped by police for any reason because he knows how they will be viewed being black.

I was deeply saddened listening to this because it’s 2018 and I don't understand why haven't figured out that racism, in any form, is wrong. It shows that we’ve barely grown as a country.

Their mother, Lisa (Regina Hall), doesn’t want them exposed to the school in their ghetto neighborhood so she sends them to a mostly white college prep school. She wants her children to not be unduly influenced.

Before long, it happens. Starr is being driven home with her lifelong friend Khalil (Algee Smith), when they are stopped for changing lanes without signaling. Khalil, despite Starr’s insistence that he follow the cop’s commands, mouths off to the officer and eventually follows the officer’s commands. Standing outside the car, facing the car, while the policeman checks his ID, Khalil reaches in the car to get a hairbrush, and the officer shoots and kills him. Starr witnesses the whole thing and is in shock.

Starr testifies in front of the Grand Jury, the jury decides to not indict the officer, and the city goes into an uproar. Sound familiar? Yes, this scene has been happening across the U.S., and even with incriminating video footage we’re not holding policeman responsible for their quick trigger behavior.

This film explores this issue when Starr asks her uncle Carlos (Common), who is a black police officer, why police act this way. When he starts his monologue about how a policeman has to act and respond to tense situations, I found myself thinking, wow this is a compelling argument and I can nearly see why a policeman would react this way. However, when Starr asks would the cop shoot a white guy dressed in a suit driving a Mercedes, or would he ask the white guy to put his hands up. Carlos pauses, then says, he’d tell the white guy to put his hands up.

This is the issue. Why would a black police officer shoot the black man but tell the well dressed white man to raise his hands.

Other race issues show up when Starr’s closest friend at her prep school, Hailey (Sabrina Carpenter) shows her true colors as Starr becomes more vocal about her community in her community. A great juxtaposition was her white boyfriend Chris (K.J. Apa) who supports Starr in her quest to be seen and speak her truth. My only criticism of this film is that there are sections that seemed elongated or unnecessary that altered the intense pacing of this film. I would have rather had some smart trimming to keep the pacing at the higher level.

Regardless, this film has things to say and in summary, we’ve got a lot to learn and it starts with each of us doing soul searching.

Stenberg was sublime as Starr. She was both verbally and visually expressive at the right moments. Hall was wonderful as the strong mother who wants the best for her children but also gives them enough reign to grow. Hornsby was fantastic as the father. His pent up and controlled rage channeled to help his family was perfectly expressed in this film. Common was strong and his discussion with Starr about “what if…” was key. Apa was extraordinary in his role as the white boyfriend. Johnson and Wright were amazing as Starr’s siblings. Hall was wonderfully charismatic and excellent as the young man killed by the white officer. Anthony Mackie was very strong as King, the neighborhood drug dealer, controlling the actions of many. Audrey Wells wrote a strong script. George Tillman Jr. did a wonderful job directing this story and strong actors keeping the point of racism in focus.

Overall: This was an emotional film to watch as witnessed by the numerous times I had to wipe my eyes.

Fences

First Hit:  Excellent acting but this film feels like too much a play.

This is Denzel Washington’s film as he was the main character as well as directing it. It is purely a dialogue based film and there is very little space for it to breathe.

I’m not sure that it could have been done differently as August Wilson who wrote the play also wrote the screenplay. Additionally, Washington and Viola Davis did this on Broadway and therefore their experience as these characters was play based.

Washington as Troy Maxson is a garbage collector (lifter) for the city of Pittsburg. His wife Rose (Davis) takes care of the home. One point made in the film is that Rose manages the money because each Friday he brings home his envelope with $76.00 and he gives it to her. He expounds on this time and time again throughout this film as a way to state who really controls the home in his eyes. They have a home partially purchased by a settlement given to his brother Gabriel (Mykelti Williamson) because he’s got a metal plate in his head. Troy has a sense of guilt about this.

His best friend Jim Bono (Stephen Henderson) is also a lifter and together they talk all day as they lift garbage cans into their truck. Troy protests, asking the city why all the drivers are white and when he’s called down to the commissioner’s office instead of being punished, he’s made a driver.

Troy tells stories in the backyard while drinking gin with Bono. His son Cory (Jovan Adepo) wants his dad to sign football scholarship papers so that he can go to college. Troy refuses because he says nothing will come of it, just as nothing came from his self-aggrandizing baseball abilities. He doesn’t understand that Cory just wants a good education at a good college.

Troy and Rose also have another older son named Lyons (Russell Hornsby) who isn’t willing to work like his dad and wants to be a musician. Unfortunately, he must borrow money from time to time and Troy gives him a hard time each time he asks.

This film is about a man rebelling about his fenced in life, his transgressions, and his son coming out from the control of his father. It is a story that has roots in most families where there are fathers having different plans for their son’s life. This is also a story about friendship in addition to how Troy demeans his own integrity and life by introducing his way to have more freedom.

The sets are simple. There are a couple scenes of Troy working, many backyard and inside their home scenes, and a couple of front yard scenes. I felt as though the backyard sets were very staged for the dialogue and not realistic.

Washington was very strong. He commanded every scene. Davis was wonderful and when it was time for her to shine, she did. Henderson was fantastic as the lifelong friend. Hornsby was good as the older son and Adepo was very strong as the younger son who wanted to find a way out of his current life. Williamson was amazing as the mentally limited brother. His horn blowing scene at the end was sublime. The script by Wilson was too play like and therefore didn’t make use of the big screen. Washington was hampered by both the script and his experience with the play.

Overall:  This is a much better play than film.

Stuck

First Hit: What a bizarre, funny, odd film. If people are or become as jaded as this film projects, we’re seriously in trouble.

This film is supposedly based on a true story. I never heard about the story so I don’t know.

Brandi (played by Mena Suvari) works as a nurse’s aide taking care of aging people in an elderly home. She is attentive and caring in her work and some patients only want her to help them. It is fair to say does a great job at work.

At night she likes to drink, do drugs, and party with her dope-dealing boyfriend Rashid (Played by Russell Hornsby). Leaving a club one night she hits a pedestrian homeless person played by Stephen Rea (Tom). He was downsized out of his past job, has just been kicked out of his skid row hotel, and is heading for a homeless shelter when Brandi hits him.

The impact places his body half in and out of her car by way of the windshield. Brandi panics and drives home with his body half lying on the hood of the car. She parks the car in the garage and yells at the still half alive and still Stuck Tom, “it’s all your fault, you should have been watching where you are going”.

Believe me when I say this film gets more bizarre. However, this tongue in cheek film has some merits in that it calls to question our disassociation with our fellow human beings. It calls into play not wanting to be blamed or taking responsibility for our actions. And when I look around the world today I can actually imagine this happening. Scary thought and I guess it is true because was based on a true story.

Overall: I laughed, I hid my eyes (some windshield wiper impelling was a bit squeamish), I was dumbfounded, and was left an impression about the human race, our selfishness and unwillingness to take responsibility. It is out there in the real world; don’t you see it?