POETIC JUSTICE
A film review by Emily L. Corse
Copyright 1993 Emily L. Corse/The Summer Pennsylvanian
** (out of ****)
In 1991, John Singleton set himself a tough act to follow. At just twenty-three years of age, he won Academy Award nominations for both directing and writing BOYZ N THE HOOD, making him the youngest nominee ever for best director. And that was his first feature film.
Unfortunately, the many fans of Singleton's beautifully conceived, beautifully executed debut will be disappointed by his second feature film, a rambling love story starring pop star Janet Jackson.
Singleton's decision to step away from the scene of his original success, the grueling violence and drugs of the 'hood, is both daring and laudable. POETIC JUSTICE is billed as a "street romance" and presents a portrait of a young woman who finds herself through poetry and, eventually, true love. But the major strength of BOYZ was the sensitive, believable characterizations of the young men whose lives were chronicled--and this strength is missing from the new film. The fault lies mainly with the lead character, Justice. As written by Singleton and performed by Jackson, Justice does not ring true.
Filmed against the ravaged landscape of post-rebellion Los Angeles, POETIC JUSTICE begins "Once upon a time...", an ironic reminder that not all stories are fairy tales. Suddenly the screen is filled with giant images of the ultra-white Penelope and Brad (Lori Petty and Billy Zane) breezily trading bad dialogue and gunfire in a glossy new-wave penthouse. For whom are these role models?
Certainly not for the youth of South Central L.A., who fill the parking lot of the drive-in theatre, just barely noticing the hilariously awful action on the giant screen above them.
Among the audience are Justice and Markell (played by Q-Tip), sharing an intimate, teenaged moment. Before allowing too much familiarity, Justice asks her boyfriend why he loves her. "'Cuz you're fun," he replies to her disappointment, before returning with the more thoughtful, "...'cuz when I was in the county jail you sent me all those nice poems."
That's all we see of the relationship between the two young lovers, as Markell soon falls victim to a casual, senseless murder. The film's main story begins with an older Justice, still in deep mourning, working as a hairdresser and hiding out from her feelings, from the world, and from men.
One of the hopeful suitors whose hopes she depresses is Lucky (Tupac Shakur), a hip-yet-responsible mail carrier attracted by Justice's flair for stamp-licking. Shakur's Lucky is both convincing and irresistible. When a postal supervisor advises that he should use mace to ward off vicious dogs, he exclaims, "That stuff is like Binaca to them rottweilers!"
With a standard plot twist, the two antagonistic protagonists are forced into a long journey together, on a mail run up the California coast to Oakland. And romance blooms.
It's a familiar scenario that could have worked with a stronger lead, but Justice is only boring. The poetry she writes in her notebook, though beautiful and powerful in its own right, sounds artificial in the passionless voice of Janet Jackson. Justice's poetry sounds like it's read from a book, not from her heart. (In fact, the soul-stirring poetry used in the film is the work of famed author Maya Angelou.)
Jackson's mediocre acting skills can't overcome the handicap of her cover-girl looks and TV white teeth. When she grimaces in pain, she looks like she's smiling for the camera. The only time her character comes alive is during a montage of her lonely home life, to the accompaniment of Stevie Wonder's "Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer." This scene of Justice eating popcorn with Tabasco, lying on the floor in the dark, and trying on faces in the mirror is well-filmed, realistic, and quite affecting.
Tyra Ferrell plays Justice's boss Jessie, a sexy, no-nonsense owner of a successful beauty salon. Jessie's character has the depth so lacking in Justice--she is self-assured and powerful; she nurtures her staff to some extent, but remains unwilling to sacrifice herself to the needs of others. She's a little too hard to be happy, yet fulfilled at least in her career. POETIC JUSTICE would have been a better movie if it followed the growth of her three-dimensional character, as Ferrell's performance never falters.
After the hard-hitting social commentary of BOYZ N THE HOOD, John Singleton may take plenty of flak for POETIC JUSTICE--more for its immature writing and flat, uninspired treatment than for its lighter theme.
With any luck, he'll remember Jessie's warning to Justice: "Out here ... sometimes you gonna lose one, like a blow dryer or a good hairbrush."
--Emily L. Corse corse@cit.med.upenn.edu
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews