BARBERSHOP: THE NEXT CUT

US, 2016, 111 minutes, Colour.
Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Regina Hall, Sean Patrick Thomas, Eve, Anthony Anderson, Jazmine Lewis, J. B. Smoove, Common.
Directed by Malcolm D. Lee.

Barbershop: The Next Cut is a sequel to Barbershop which was released in 2000 and Barbershop 2, 2002. It has taken quite a long time to have this third film.

In the 1990s, there was a huge burst of activity from African- American directors, first with crime films, especially in the suburbs, like Boys in Da Hood. By the mid-1990s, there were comedies, very broad, but with social concern about life in the suburbs, Friday and its sequel Next Friday. The Barbershop films were something in this vein – and the common denominator was the presence of Ice Cube.

This is Chicago in 2016 with a significant credits prologue highlighting a range of television comments on violence in the city (including some quotations from the priest, Father Michael Prager, who was played by John Cusack in Spike Lee’s, Chi-Raq). Violence in the city is a major concern of the screenplay which was directed by Spike Lee’s cousin, Malcolm D. Lee.

Most of the same characters from the previous films are assembled for this one, especially Ice Cube as Calvin, the owner of the store, and his partner Angie, Regina Hall. Cedric the Entertainer is also present. This time the barbershop has been extended and there is a women’s section, enabling the conversation (with which most of the film is concerned) to be amongst the men and with the women. There is only one non-African- American amongst the group, an Indian migrant called Raj.

There are some complications because of the teenage sons of the two chief barbers, Ice Cube and Common, who are resentful of their parents, rather oblivious of the love and concern the parents have about their future, and become entangled in street gangs.

The film makes its characters have quite a deal to say about violence in the streets, dangers, the concerns of families, with a greater emphasis on family love and concern, perhaps, than in previous films.

The film is very pro-Obama – and he makes an appearance (an actor) at the Barbershop.

The decision is to have a moratorium, a ceasefire, where everybody can come to the barbershop for free haircuts, fostering an atmosphere of peace. On the whole this is successful though it is revealed that Calvin is putting money as a deposit to move his barbershop from South Chicago to the north and this causes some resentment. He makes a plea stating that he is more concerned about his son and his family’s future.

The ceasefire is broken and one of the young barbers from the shop is shot down coming from a library.

There is also a showdown for the youngsters, their being pressurised by the gang leaders – with Calvin racing to the meeting place to rescue his son who has decided not to go with the group. Symbolically, he agrees to have his dreadlocks cut and to have a haircut, indicating that all would be well.

The film plays for African- American audiences which makes it something of a film of observation on the outside by non-African- American audiences.