Guy Lochhead, 21/03/12
1993 film set in South Central, Los Angeles, following one teenager, Caine, as he is encouraged to escape his violent surroundings by his Christian grandparents, girlfriend and some friends. This was the debut film of the Hughes Brothers. It is shot in quite a stylised way, and held together with a narrative delivered by Caine. This film seemed confused to me. It mixes socially-realistic scenes with shocking violence that revels in gore (the sound effects are disturbingly misplaced). The monologue is super-didactic, and characters aren’t explored enough to make the audience care about anyone’s outcome. The film seems to move from set-piece to set-piece, which alternate between damning and glorifying the fucked-up situations they portray. The opening scene is genuinely tense, raw, unpredictable and realistically filmed. If the directors had held back from the stylistic obstacles they decided to include, it may well have been more affecting – for me at least (and I worry that those affected by the quick cuts will enjoy the way the violence is framed, perhaps missing the point of the film?).