Set It Off

What’s the fucking procedure when you have a gun to your head? Of course in Gray’s movie it’s a literal gun, but for most of us the gun is your rent that is a month behind, the bills stacking up, your boss cutting your hours back, you having to choose between feeding yourself and keeping the heat on. Will you remember how you’re “supposed” to behave? There’s a moment at the end of the film that perfectly encapsulates what a great and sleek visual stylist Gray is. Queen Latifah’s character is going to have one final standoff with the system she can never get ahead in. The camera focuses on her trying to light her cigarette while Up Against the Wind starts playing. She starts her car up one last time and drives into a police barricade. Her car is riddled with bullets and the camera moves and lingers on her gold rims which are shining bright through all the chaos. I haven’t cried at a movie in a long time but when she lit that cigarette up I had tears welling up in my eyes man.