#1105: HUGHES, Albert and Allen: Menace II Society (1993)

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HUGHES, Albert and Allen (United States)
Menace II Society [1993]
Spine #1105
Blu-ray


Directors Albert and Allen Hughes and screenwriter Tyger Williams were barely into their twenties when they sent shock waves through American cinema and hip-hop culture with this fatalistic, unflinching vision of life and death on the streets of Watts, Los Angeles, in the 1990s. There, in the shadow of the riots of 1965 and 1992, young Caine (Tyrin Turner) is growing up under the influence of his ruthless, drug-dealing father (Samuel L. Jackson, in a chilling cameo) and his loose-cannon best friend, O-Dog (Larenz Tate), leading him into a spiral of violent crime from which he is not sure he wants to escape, despite the best efforts of his grandparents and the steadfast Ronnie (Jada Pinkett). Fusing grim realism with a propulsively stylish aesthetic honed through the Hughes brothers’ work on rap videos, Menace II Society is a searing cautionary tale about the devastating human toll of hopelessness.

97 minutes
Color
7.1 Surround
1:85:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2021

Director/Writers

Story by Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes, and Tyger Williams.
Screenplay by Williams.
The Hughes Brothers (twins) were 21 when they directed Menace II Society.

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by film critic Craig D. Lindsey.

Two audio commentaries

From 1993 featuring directors Albert and Allen Hughes

Selected-scene commentary

Fearturing DP Lisa Rinzler.

Gangsta Vision

A 2009 featurette on the making of the film.

Conversation 1

Among Albert Hughes, screenwriter Williams, and film critic Elvis Mitchell.

Conversation 2

Among Allen Hughes, actor and filmmaker Bill Duke, and Mitchell.

Interview

From 1993 with the directors.

Music video

From 1991 for 2Pac’s “Brenda’s Got a Baby,” directed by the Hughes brothers.

Deleted scenes

Film-to-storyboard comparison

Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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