John Singleton wrote it as a college project and based it on his own life and those he knew. And he would go on to become the first Black person to be nominated for best director at the Oscars. He was the youngest ever as well. And, perhaps taking a trick from the master Alfred Hitchcock, Singleton appears in the movie as the mailman, dropping off some letters in the midst of a fistfight and not batting an eye towards it.
Ice Cube is of course a big part of why Boyz is so excellent. It was the rapper’s breakout acting role as Doughboy, who’s back from the penitentiary at the still-tender age of 17, living with his mom and star football player brother Ricky. Doughboy is not well liked by his mother and doesn’t really have many redeeming qualities, but the audience sympathizes with him anyway. Although he appears to be buying drugs in the street the morning after another young person is murdered, he also dumps out a good bit of his malt liquor. He serves as one of the movie’s prime examples of how complicated individuals are and for how little society cared about young Black men at that time in history. Would he become just another statistic?
Under the beautiful skies and palm trees of L.A., gang violence was famous in South Central, where the film is set. But even a minor disrespect like bumping into someone at a car rally could end there in someone getting blown away with guns. Singleton never expressly notes that any of the main characters are actually in gangs. It’s almost more like they idolize the gang members they see and aspire to be like them, which makes all the useless death and violence even more heartbreaking, as we’ve followed this group of friends since they were 10.
It was a great film to rewatch with my 15-year-old son. Mainstream cinema really needed this story told at the time of its release. It still sadly needs it now.
5 out of 5 stars
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