At his strongest, Albert Hughes makes violence feel uncomfortably ordinary. We admire the attention to surroundings in his work with Allen Hughes, though Menace II Society gives its young men too little say in their own lives.
Fi1m perspective
In Menace II Society (1993), the Watts neighbourhood feels lived in, and the violence seems horribly at home there. Albert Hughes and his co-director Allen Hughes give us little room to watch its young men from a comfortable distance. We were unsettled by how ordinary the brutality became, because the surroundings remained so recognisably everyday. Tyrin Turner and Larenz Tate give us people worth worrying about. It is forceful, worthwhile filmmaking, even when the writing seems to have decided their lives in advance.
Albert concentrated on photography and production design within the partnership, while Allen focused on actors and story. That helps explain the care taken with the surroundings, although the finished film belongs to both brothers. Penny Barrett's production design gives the neighbourhood its everyday credibility; these places appear to have lives beyond the violence. Quincy Jones III's music adds nervous energy, though the performances and cutting do more of the work. The brothers are most persuasive when they let us observe the young men rather than stop to explain them.
Their feature debut led to Dead Presidents (1995), which followed a Black Vietnam veteran home and into crime. From Hell (2001) took the partnership into the period setting of the Jack the Ripper story. They later made the post-apocalyptic The Book of Eli (2010), with Denzel Washington. Albert's first solo feature, Alpha (2018), was a prehistoric survival story; his television directing includes episodes of The Good Lord Bird (2020) and The Continental (2023).
Our reservation starts with the debut's treatment of choice. The brothers show how little control Caine ‘Kaydee’ Lawson has over his surroundings, but sometimes make his decisions seem beside the point. We do not need an easier life for him; we need more room to believe that his next decision matters. Their impatience with reassuring explanations serves the film well, but the writing sometimes leaves us watching people whose options have already been closed off. Start with Menace II Society, and allow for a script more certain about its young men than we are.
Biography
Albert Hughes is an American film director and screenwriter. Born on 1 April 1972 in Detroit, Michigan, he works with his twin brother Allen Hughes, the pair known professionally as the Hughes Brothers.
The brothers began making short films as teenagers after receiving a video camera at age 12. They later directed music videos before their feature debut with Menace II Society (1993), which they co-directed and for which they shared story credit. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
Subsequent co-directed features include Dead Presidents (1995), From Hell (2001) and The Book of Eli (2010). Hughes has also directed episodes of the series The Continental: From the World of John Wick (2023).
