Why did Candyman choose Cabrini Green to terrorize? For the unfamiliar, this tiny little section of the north side of Chicago doesn’t need a boogeyman to be haunted. For years, it’s been the frontline of the proxy war on drugs between Chicago’s police and the local gangs, with the poor, good citizens trapped in the crossfire. We Grown Now takes this place and good people and gives it this long overdue movie treatment, proving like the little stars scream to the distant city, they exist.
Writer director Minhal Baig transports us to 1992 Cabrini-Green, in a housing project. There lives Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez), two 10ish year olds making jumping games out of concrete, learning and growing as best they can. Though they come from the same place, their home lives are different. Malik’s mom Dolores (Jurnee Smollett) and grandma Anita (S. Epatha Merkerson) encourage him to have a little fun and dream a little, for something a little better than what they have. Meanwhile Eric’s dad Jason (Lil Rel Howery) pays the bills, but clearly favors his older daughter, coming down hard on Eric mostly with words and disappointment.
My theory here is Baig got sick of seeing Chicago’s media narrative, turning places like Cabrini into these havens of the cesspool of the world: evil people only doing evil things. She flips it by turning Malik and Eric’s day to day living stuff right out of a Langston Hughes poem. All of the concrete, treeless places in this complex can feel like prisons at times, especially to Eric. But when he and Malik go on adventures together, those water cracks in a laundry room ceiling transform into the solar system, filled with stars to live in and dream about. The juxtaposition of Eric/Malik’s home lives shows how fraught or lucky people’s paths are when you come from a place like Cabrini. While Malik is comfortable in his skin and his feelings about his family and friends, Eric remains scared and unsure, with that fear pushing him too close to a life that’s going to eventually lead him to an early death. Those little differences, unchecked, really threaten their supposedly rock solid friendship, with either kid too proud to admit to the other they actually matter for fear of looking like a sissy. If there’s a big lesson in We Grown Now, it’s that we are products of our environments, whether we know it or not, and hopefully the people we love can help become our best versions of ourselves.
As much as Minhal Baig wants to exist above the issues that befall Cabrini Green, she has to address them, because they are a part of that place’s story. The proxy war means that not only does gang life leave the schools shockingly vulnerable to a stray bullet, but also the police bureaucracy comes in, forcing every tenant to get an ID to enter the building, and not being allowed in without it, real good policy for 6-10 year olds to understand and be responsible for. And as the situation escalates and get worse, even their own apartments in the complex aren’t safe, as “drugs” cause the police raids to happen at all hours of the day and night. Fortunately, Baig rarely does this heavy handedly, but certainly leaves that danger in the air at all times so neither boy feels totally comfortable, even inside their tiny apartments with their families. The boys know something is wrong, and get a better picture when they eavesdrop on their parents confiding about how scared they are to other parents, a trick Baig goes to with great success over and over again, proving how much more resourceful and smarter kids are than they get credit for.
I exist. What a simple request right? Something like that that I can take for granted is not a given in We Grown Now, but something that has to be fought for, all the time. This movie is a part of that struggle, showing this existence so more people can know it existed, even at some point. And I know that Baig is real and legit with this story? Know how? Well, instead of a Michael Jordan jersey, an easy choice, she pulls out a Scottie Pippen one, and points out these kids would’ve worshipped Isaiah Thomas too, being a poor black Chicago basketball player who made it. Nice, deep cut Baig. You earned your Chicago badge, as far as I’m concerned.