![]() Spike Lee led the way, but it was John Singleton’s Boyz N The Hood (which made him the first black filmmaker nominated for the Best Director Oscar) that seemed to set the template for many of these films. Menace II Society came in an early 90s wave of films by young black directors, taking a ground level look at life in the ghetto. It’s a brutal opening, one that makes clear the way that violence can grow out of one tiny moment, and one that establishes the push and pull that we’ll see Caine go through during the film, between loyalty to his friends and the belief that this way of life is his destined lot and his opportunity to escape the cycle of violence. O-Dog shoots the man almost immediately, before taking the woman out back, getting the security tape from her, and killing her too. They’re pissed off by the implication that they are planning to steal from these people, but it’s only when the husband says “I feel sorry for your mother” that things turn. Two young black men, Caine (Tyrin Turner) and O-Dog (Larenz Tate) are carefully watched by the Korean husband and wife owners as they buy themselves beers in a convenience store. ![]() As opening statements in a film career go, the pre-credits sequence of Menace II Society is a powerful one.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |