The sadly familiar story of this hit YA novel adaptation becomes a very powerful film, the events surrounding a white policeman unjustly killing a young black man being told through the eyes of 16-year-old Starr, played here in a powerhouse and utterly engaging performance by Amandla Stenberg. Characters are set up well and the performances are admirable - note Regina Hall's superbly-judged presentation of Starr's mother - and once the initiating event happens the sense of urgency and threat keeps building. The film creates many raw and affecting scenes, but one audacious and impressive point-making moment in the finale drew a collective gasp from the cinema audience. Indeed, there is a genuine complexity to the presentation and handling of race issues here, including some thought-provoking reflection on white teenage appropriation of black culture through Starr's school friends. There are a couple of moments where the film topples into melodrama, and the only real aspect that rings false is the clumsy cinematic use of cool bluish colour grading for the privileged school scenes and golden-dappled washes for Starr's home neighbourhood, but that is a minor gripe. Of the YA genre, The Hate U Give is a very impressive piece of work.
No comments:
Post a Comment