John Singleton’s Hood Trilogy

One of the greatest debuts in American cinema, John Singleton’s first feature is a harrowing and compassionate immersion into the lives of three Black teenage boys grappling with the uncertainty of their futures. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, the precocious Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.), the street-smart Doughboy (Ice Cube), and the athletically gifted Ricky (Morris Chestnut) navigate friendship, first love, the hopes and dreams of their families, and the realities of gang violence in a society where the odds are stacked against them. Nominated for Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the age of twenty-four, Singleton established himself as a vital new auteur already in breathtaking command of his craft.

Once upon a time in South Central LA . . . For his follow-up to Boyz n the Hood, John Singleton again turned the camera on his hometown to create a stirring exploration of grief, love, and creativity. Built around the electric chemistry between superstars Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur, the film follows two young Angelenos—Justice, a sensitive hairdresser and poet mourning the death of her boyfriend, and Lucky, a dashingly charismatic postal clerk—as they fall in love over the course of a liberating road trip. Featuring soul-nourishing poetry by Maya Angelou, and scene-stealing performances from Regina King and Joe Torry, Poetic Justice is one of the most irresistible romances of the 1990s.

In this funny and fearlessly honest character study, John Singleton illuminates the pressures that Black men face as they make their way through early adulthood. Jody (Tyrese Gibson, in his feature-film debut) is a young native of South Central Los Angeles struggling to find direction in his life. At the same time, he tries to reconcile his volatile relationships with his loving but conflicted girlfriend (a revelatory Taraji P. Henson), who bears much of the burden of raising their son, and his strong-willed mother (AJ Johnson), whose imposing ex-con beau (Ving Rhames) is a thorn in Jody’s side. Confronting complicated questions about sex, violence, and parent-child dynamics, the final installment in Singleton’s Hood Trilogy showcases the deep humanism of a celebrated filmmaker working at the height of his powers.