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The Wood, 1999, 106 minutes, Rated R
By Lisa Patrick
Set in 1980’s suburban Inglewood, California, The Wood is an agreeable
coming of age tale about three friends who meet in high school. The film straddles their
high school years and the present-day with flashbacks interrupting the tale of Roland
(played as an adult by Taye Diggs) and his wedding day jitters. Between the two
storylines, the more compelling is the early one - of the arrival in Inglewood of Mike
(Sean Nelson, played as an adult by Omar Epps), his meeting Roland (Trent Cameron) and
Slim (Duane Finley and Richard T. Jones), and their scrapes with love, trouble and
adulthood. |
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The present-day sequences
are appealing, but seem less original, perhaps unfairly compared to the similar “The
Best Man.” The movie opens as Mike and Slim search for Roland, missing in action on
his wedding day. They find him at the house of an ex-girlfriend and proceed to clean and
sober him up, reminiscing along the way about their high school years.
The early sequences are pure 15-year-old reality. Men will relate most directly, but the
teen angst is entertainingly universal. Mike makes foolish (and funny) wagers with his
friends and fights to hide his “jones” in class. He and his friends are chance
witnesses of a convenience store holdup and its aftermath, but most of the plot is
comprised of typical teenage mini-dramas, like finding a date to the school dance. |
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Mike falls in love with Alicia (Malinda Williams), and
this relationship supports the most charming subplots in the movie. After Mike grabs
Alicia’s butt on a dare (was this as common in junior high as I suspect?), her older
brother fights (and then reconciles) with him, and Alicia returns his affections. For her
part, Alicia is portrayed as a girl confidently aware of herself and the woman she is
destined to become, much to Mike’s pleasant surprise. Ultimately, Mike and Alicia
share their first sexual experience together, and Rick Famuyiwa’s treatment of their
reactions is classic. There have been other movies that treat early sexual encounters in a
sensitive manner, but it’s particularly nice when black filmmakers choose to do so.
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Paramount Pictures
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Paramount Pictures |
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Much has been made of the positive
portrayal of black teenagers in this movie and it cannot be overstated. Movies with a
Black cast need not mirror the worst stereotypes to be entertaining. Like “The
Wood,” movies portraying black people can explore values, hopes and anxieties with
wit and humor.
M
May 2000
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