There's somethin' 'bout da ghetto...

BOYZ 'N THE HOOD is on my TV now...stumbled across it as it began. People always ask me what some of my fave movies are...well, this is one of them. It is so UNbelievably grim and disturbing. And let's talk about "a sense of place," shall we? I LOVE movies with a sense of place...a specific place, specific period of time, whatever. Even better if it's filmed on location. And BOYZ is early 90s Los Angeles...and filmed there...and it's just so great. You feel like you're THERE. Naturally, with my fascination with LA now, it's even more interesting to analyze the locations. And I love the inner city. There's something very dangerously appealing to me about getting as close to it as I can...without getting shot and killed. Is that odd? I just can't even fathom those conditions day-to-day...always the prospect of gunfire and death. Bars on windows. Drug dealers. Whores. Burned out buildings. Just across the board despair. And it's fascinating to me. I also love BOYZ because it came out the summer before I entered college and was one of the first movies I saw at my college theater...vividly reminds me of being eighteen. It's just a great movie...well-acted, a great story, a clear representation of a certain time and place. Now excuse me as I take in 1991 LA...