If there’s a film in 2018 that should be running up nominations and awards it’s The Hate U Give. A critical darling with a respectable box office, the film has everything you’d want in a film on the periphery of awards season. But timing is everything, it seems, and The Hate U Give just missed out on awards season this past fall.
Simple premise. Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg) is a star pupil at a local prep school who happens to grow in less than ideal circumstances. When her best friend is killed by accident during a traffic stop, Starr is the key witness in the trial. Things go from bad to worse as she tries to balance her school life and her home life.
With a fairly solid cast and a strong background as a well-regarded youth adult novel you’d wonder why the film just didn’t quite resonate on either end. There are two interesting narratives at play: Starr trying to balance being a black girl in an all-white school opposite Starr being just another smart girl in the hood trying to find her way out as well as the inequities of the system.
It’s the subtle balance of both of these narratives that make the film compelling. Stenberg has two very different versions of her character to play; one is as the only black girl trying to fit in and the other is as the black girl who’s trying to make it. Both require different dialects; everything about her at school against her at home are so different that it makes for compelling viewing.
A number of extras populate this Blu-Ray. Most of them are perfunctory, like deleted and extra scenes.
20th Century Fox presents The Hate U Give Directed by George Tillman Jr. Written by Audrey Wells based on the novel of the same name by Angie Thomas. Starring Amandla Steinberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, K.J Apa, Common, Anthony Mackie. Run Time: 133 minutes Rated PG-13 . Released on DVD: 1.22.10
