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#539 - Juice
Ernest R. Dickerson, 1992
A group of four African-American teenagers growing up in Harlem find their friendship tested when one of them plans on committing armed robbery.
Juice came out a year after the release of Boyz n the Hood but it opted to avoid a lot of the more straightforward sermonising and melodrama that has ultimately led to Singleton's film not aging particularly well. Instead, Juice offers a more down-to-earth tale in examining the none-too-pleasant situation of a handful of black teens trying to get by amidst a threatening atmosphere of racial tension, gang warfare, and police brutality. The main character (Omar Epps) naturally wants to make something of himself by becoming a DJ, even going so far as to enter a tournament at one point. However, his group of friends is threatened from within by a wild-card (Tupac Shakur), who seems far more willing to embrace the toxicity of their environment and lead the group into a life of crime. The film sets up an interesting conflict between the two, especially when the constantly escalating severity of Shakur's crimes promises to shatter everyone's world.
Though it doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel or anything, Juice is still a very respectable hood film. It naturally points out that crime doesn't pay for a multitude of reasons but doesn't go overboard with it either (save for the occasional notable instance, such as Shakur reacting excitedly while watching the finale of White Heat). Epps makes for a sufficiently likable protagonist in ways that overcome his less sympathetic actions (such as smooth-talking a record store clerk in order to cover for his friends shoplifting records for him), but Shakur creates a sufficiently magnetic and intimidating screen presence even before making the jump from petty crime to robbery and murder. Dickerson's style stays fairly grounded, showing ostentatious flair only when it needs to (such as the scene where Epps does face off against a rival DJ or in a certain scene involving an elevator). Fittingly enough for a movie about an aspiring DJ, the background score consists of some impressive sample-heavy compositions by hip-hop production posse The Bomb Squad. Juice proves a fairly decent film that keeps things sufficiently interesting up until its final moments and is definitely worthwhile if you're interested in hood movies.
Ernest R. Dickerson, 1992
A group of four African-American teenagers growing up in Harlem find their friendship tested when one of them plans on committing armed robbery.
Juice came out a year after the release of Boyz n the Hood but it opted to avoid a lot of the more straightforward sermonising and melodrama that has ultimately led to Singleton's film not aging particularly well. Instead, Juice offers a more down-to-earth tale in examining the none-too-pleasant situation of a handful of black teens trying to get by amidst a threatening atmosphere of racial tension, gang warfare, and police brutality. The main character (Omar Epps) naturally wants to make something of himself by becoming a DJ, even going so far as to enter a tournament at one point. However, his group of friends is threatened from within by a wild-card (Tupac Shakur), who seems far more willing to embrace the toxicity of their environment and lead the group into a life of crime. The film sets up an interesting conflict between the two, especially when the constantly escalating severity of Shakur's crimes promises to shatter everyone's world.
Though it doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel or anything, Juice is still a very respectable hood film. It naturally points out that crime doesn't pay for a multitude of reasons but doesn't go overboard with it either (save for the occasional notable instance, such as Shakur reacting excitedly while watching the finale of White Heat). Epps makes for a sufficiently likable protagonist in ways that overcome his less sympathetic actions (such as smooth-talking a record store clerk in order to cover for his friends shoplifting records for him), but Shakur creates a sufficiently magnetic and intimidating screen presence even before making the jump from petty crime to robbery and murder. Dickerson's style stays fairly grounded, showing ostentatious flair only when it needs to (such as the scene where Epps does face off against a rival DJ or in a certain scene involving an elevator). Fittingly enough for a movie about an aspiring DJ, the background score consists of some impressive sample-heavy compositions by hip-hop production posse The Bomb Squad. Juice proves a fairly decent film that keeps things sufficiently interesting up until its final moments and is definitely worthwhile if you're interested in hood movies.