Boyz N The Hood

Boyz N The Hood was powerful to me for many reasons. Firstly, it had a very genuine feel to it; it didn't feel "Hollywoodized" for the sake of making money. So many films with violent themes are simply spectacles of guns, blood, suspense. I felt like this movie had soul to it, which brings me to another reason why I enjoyed it. It was a moving film, it had a self reflexivity for the purpose of sending out a message ("Increase the Peace"). It did a very good job of highlighting the cycle of violence that never ends unless a person is instilled with good morals and becomes a parent with good judgement (Tre's father). This related to a view I take: hate is always taught. It is a learned behavior from one person to another, usually parent to child. No one is born already being a violent person, somewhere in their childhood they learn that hate and anger is the only way to deal with life and what it brings.
As with so many other movies I have seen, something that angered me in the film was the attitude of the police. Although there are many honorable policemen /women out there, there are many who are not. It is a huge injustice in our country that so many people are mistreated by the people who are being paid to protect us. This made me realize that hate and crime is not just a theme of the street, but in any situation in which people are fighting for power. Many bad policemen/women become officers because they need to be in a place of power, just like people in gangs.
Overall I thought Boyz N The Hood was convincing and successful as a message to all people in violent environments.

Last Day

I've forgotten the name/artist of the film that I would like to talk about, but it was the one based on the filmmaker's experiences starting out as a filmmaker. I found it very intriguing and mysterious, mostly because I didn't quite understand it. In the scene where the young woman is complaining about always having to be naked and then calls him and tells him she wasn't going to continue doing the film, it was obvious how that could relate to what a filmmaker must go through. I wondered if maybe he had two actors who were doing "love scenes" together really doing them off set also, from the stained glass window part. One part that really interested me was the scene where he takes a shower, clearly distressed. Perhaps he was channeling a moment of frustration he had once, that happened to be in a shower.
I thought the film was successful, but it was very personal -clearly done in way that only the filmmaker himself could totally understand. One question that pops into my head is why was the movie so sexual? I would like to know how that ties into his memories of starting out as a filmmaker.