John Singleton's Baby Boy

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Movie
German title John Singleton's Baby Boy
Original title Baby boy
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2001
length 129 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director John Singleton
script John Singleton
production John Singleton
music David Arnold
camera Charles Mills
cut Bruce Cannon
occupation

John Singleton's Baby Boy (Original Title: Baby Boy ) is an American film from 2001. Directed by John Singleton , who also wrote the script and was responsible for production.

action

20-year-old Jody still lives with his mother in South Central and feels at home there. He spends most of his time with his best friend Sweetpea and isn't interested in growing up. Although he has two children from two different mothers (Yvette and Peanut) and he has a more or less serious relationship with Yvette, he makes no move to move out of home. But when his mother brings the ex-con Melvin home and introduces him as her new boyfriend, Jody knows that he will soon be sitting on the street. Now he wants to change his life, he spends more time with Yvette and earns his living selling stolen clothes. But luck doesn't last long - after Yvette learns that Jody is cheating on her, she throws him out after an argument. Shortly afterwards, Yvette's ex-boyfriend Rodney is at the door, he has just been released from prison and is nesting with her. When Jody picks up his son, he meets Rodney. He wants to see him dead and makes that more than understandable. Jody spends the next few days at Sweetpea's and falls back into his old pattern until one day Yvette comes by and tells him that Rodney tried to rape her. They reconcile and decide to start over, so Yvette drives off to get some things from her apartment. In the meantime, Jody is out for revenge and together with Sweetpea decides to kill Rodney. After a shooting with Rodney, they go to see him and shoot him in the street. Now Jody has become aware of his responsibility and lives with Yvette and his son in a shared apartment.

background

The main role of Jody was originally written for Tupac Shakur , but production was discontinued when he passed away in 1996. Jody hears a Tupac song in one scene and he has a picture of him on the wall. The role of Rodney was originally intended to be played by Ice Cube .

Baby Boy grossed more than $ 29 million worldwide . On a budget of $ 16 million.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack plays a big role in Baby Boy because it's symbolic of Jody's evolution . At the beginning of the film he listens almost exclusively to hip-hop , the more he grows up the more soul is played. This development is confirmed by Melvin when he tells Jody that Marvin Gaye is music for adults.

  • "The Womb (Intro)" - 1:14 ( Tyrese )
  • "Just a Baby Boy" - 4:16 ( Snoop Dogg featuring Tyrese & Mr. Tan)
  • "Just a Man" - 3:59 (Raphael Saadiq featuring Devin the Dude )
  • "Focus (Interlude)" -: 22 ( Tyrese & Taraji P. Henson )
  • "Baby Mama" - 4:44 ( Three 6 Mafia featuring La Chat)
  • "Talk Shit 2 Ya" - 4:35 ( D'Angelo featuring Marlon C)
  • "I'd Rather Be With You" - 4:55 ( Bootsy Collins )
  • "You" - 4:45 (Felicia Adams)
  • "Jody Meets Rodney (Interlude)" -: 30 ( Tyrese & Snoop Dogg )
  • "Crip Hop" - 5:03 ( Tha Eastsidaz featuring Snoop Dogg )
  • "Thatshowegetdown" - 4:17 (BG featuring Baby & Lac)
  • "Guns and Butter (Interlude)" -: 30 ( Ving Rhames )
  • "We Keep It G" - 4:44 (Lost Angels)
  • "Eat Sleep Think" - 3:36 (Connie McKendrick)
  • "Just to Keep You Satisfied" - 4:24 ( Marvin Gaye )
  • "I Hate You (Interlude)" -: 41 ( Tyrese & Taraji P. Henson )
  • "Love & War" - 5:21 (Anthony Hamilton featuring Macy Gray )
  • "Straight Fucking" - 4:59 (The Transistitions featuring Gator)
  • "Hail Mary" - 5:12 ( Makavelli & Outlawz )
  • "Baby Boy" - 4:30 (Felicia Adams)

Prices

The cast won the special award at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2001. The film was also in the running for the Golden Leopard.

Gibson was nominated for Best Actor for the Black Reel and Image Awards.

Reviews

The film received generally positive reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film 3 ½ out of 4 stars. He says:

"Baby Boy is a bold criticism of young black men who carelessly father babies, live off their mothers and don't even think of looking for work. It is also a criticism of the society that pushes them into that niche. There has never been a movie with this angle on the African-American experience "and" [it] doesn't fall back on easy liberal finger-pointing. There are no white people in this movie, no simplistic blaming of others; the adults in Jody's life blame him for his own troubles, and they should. "

“Baby Boy is a bold criticism of young black men who live with their mothers and don't even think about looking for work. It's also a criticism of society that pushes them into that niche. There has never been a film with this angle on the African-American experience, "and" [it] is not just a mere blame. There are no white people in this film, no simple blame on others. the adults in Jody's life blame him for his worries. "

- Roger Ebert

“About a decade after 'Boyz N the Hood', a mature John Singleton explains to his buddies from back then that in the age of bio-bombs one can no longer blame every grievance of the black community in Bausch & Bogen on the racism of the white man. Accordingly, pale faces cannot even be made out from a distance, instead Afro-American A-staff from Ving Rhames to Cuba's brother Omar Gooding to G-rapper Snoop Dog pulls out all the stops of black film art. "

- Kino.de

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Review on rogerebert.com , accessed October 3, 2013
  2. ^ Review on Kino.de , accessed on October 3, 2013