The Hate U Give

Based on Angie Thomas’s bestselling 2017 YA novel, this timely and powerful social justice drama revolves around teenaged Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg), who is trying to maintain an emotional balance as she straddles two disparate worlds. Raised in Garden Heights—a poor, predominantly black Georgia neighborhood—Starr attends Williamson Prep, a private, predominantly white suburban school. Her conscientious parents (Russell Hornsby, Regina Hall) make Starr, her half-brother Seven (Lamar Johnson), and younger brother Sekani (TJ Wright) acutely aware of police harassment of black people, drilling them on how to respond respectfully if/when they’re stopped. One night at a party, Starr runs into Khalil (Algee Smith), a childhood pal, who is now dealing drugs for King (Anthony Mackie), a crime lord who terrorizes Garden Heights. As Khalil drives her home, he changes lanes without signaling and they are stopped. Standing alongside his vehicle, Khalil reaches inside for his hairbrush, which the policeman thinks is a gun. Khalil is shot, dying with panicked Starr at his side. As an ex-con, Starr’s devoted father understands her PTSD, and her uncle (Common), a cop himself, tries to explain the nightly tension that law enforcement officers face. Meanwhile, Starr is wracked with worry about the reaction of her classmates and supportive boyfriend (KJ Apa)—along with King’s inevitable retaliation—if she goes public as the only witness to Khalil’s murder. Director George Tillman Jr. sharply delineates the conflict, charting the complex evolution of Starr as she gradually becomes a community activist. Recommended. (S. Granger)