Boyz N The Hood

Watching deeply influential movies is always an odd task. Despite the fact that the last time I saw this was too long ago to really remember it, everything was eerily familiar. With the possible exception of certain rap albums (which I won't even pretend to know anything about) no other single piece of media has been as instrumental in establishing the place of the American ghetto in the cultural landscape. The messages it had to deliver, about the complex mixture of pride and destruction brought about by a culture of bravado, that perhaps it pioneered have had such impact for such a time that they have become commonplace. They are mainstays of the medium that can be found in part, whole and often verbatim in numerous forms elsewhere, with varying degrees of success and quality. There is, for example, little in the film that cannot be seen at least somewhere within HBO's excellent series, The Wire. Except perhaps for the haircuts.

Not being able to detach it from it's multitude of imitators I can hardly help but make unfavourable comparisons. While I can more objectively tell that it is a great and important film, it's one that only occasionally engaged me fully, perhaps because I have seen parts of it done in ways I felt were better before. It all seems a bit patchy, cheap, and simple. Not that simplicity is immediately an issue, the story of the Boyz is essentially human and relatable, something maybe lacking in the hugely violent world often seen in such things. My world is quite some distance away from dope fiendery and asses full of caps, but we can all grasp the more universal themes of hope, despair and fear of roving youths.

The one thing the film definitely has not lost to the ravages of reproduction is a cast of excellent characters. No matter how many times it's story is told the film will remain relevant and powerful as it is told through Tré, Doughboy and wonderfully Fishburnes "Furious", Tré's strange but memorable father. Career forming performances for some, defining for others, their plights and dreams are made palpable by the presence they all manage to bring.