John Singleton’s Hood Trilogy Is the Pick of the Week

The late, great John Singleton, pioneering Oscar/Emmy-nominated filmmaker, producer, and screenwriter, was one of the true pioneers of a new kind of cinema, one filled with modernity and gritty portraits of Black urbania and struggle. His characters and the situations they found themselves in spoke to the reality of how life truly is a challenge to us all.

In what he considered his Hood Trilogy, the three films set in his hometown of South Central Los Angeles (Boyz in the Hood, Poetic Justice, and Baby Boy) showcased the experience of being Black in a world that still continues to demean you because of the color of your skin, where you came from, and who you are.

In Boyz, three Black teenagers (Cuba Gooding Jr, Morris Chestnut, and Ice Cube) grapple with the uncertainty of their futures while living amongst gang violence and the fate that pulls them in different directions. In Poetic, two Angelenos (Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur), a hairdresser and postal clerk, fall in love and connect during a liberating road trip. And in Baby, Tyrese Gibson plays a young native in South Central trying to figure what to do with life while struggling with relationships with the two women in his life: his loving but conflicted girlfriend (Taraji P. Henson) and his strong-willed mother (A.J. Johnson), whose new and imposing beau (Ving Rhames) presents an obstacle in his way.

With these films and others, Singleton rocked the film world in the 1990s and early 2000s with his bracing and often confronting storytelling, one that continues to influence many filmmakers to this day. The good folks at Criterion understood that with the release of his trilogy in new (and separate) 4K UHD and Blu-ray editions that contain new restorations and archival commentaries with Singleton, as well as new and archival supplements, such as a new conversation between acclaimed filmmakers Ryan Coogler and Regina King; a new documentary on Singleton’s filmmaking process; new audio interviews with Henson and Gibson; archival interviews with cast and crew; press conference from 1991; deleted scenes; audition footage; music videos; and trailers. There is also a new essay by critic Julian Kimble.

So, if you enjoy Singleton’s groundbreaking work and Black cinema as a whole, then this release is definitely for you.

Other releases:

Eclipse Series 48: Kinuyo Tanaka Directs (Criterion): A six-film collection from the legendary Japanese actress turned filmmaker who crafted portraits of strong women who refused to conform restriction as they sought independence.

Ju Dou (Film Movement): The 1990 sensual Chinese classic starring a beguiling Gong Li as a woman married to a brutal owner of a dye mill who has a child with her husband’s nephew but is forced to raise her son as her husband’s heir without revealing who his father is.

Private Benjamin (Warner Archive): The great Goldie Hawn (in an Oscar-nominated signature role) stars as a pampered high-society woman who joins the Army on a whim and finds more than what she bargained for.

The Grapes of Death (Indicator): Cult director Jean Rollin’s celebrated 1978 shocker about a young woman who discovers that the pesticides sprayed onto vineyards turns residents into zombies.

Gutter Auteur: The Lost Legacy of Andy Milligan (Severin Films): A new 3-disc set includes five cult films from the renegade maverick of 60s and 70s indie cinema, Andy Milligan.