We Grown Now

The film's all-Black cast sensitively portrays Black characters living with dignity despite the societal mistreatment of poor Black families in the 1990s. Malik and Eric are excellent examples of layered, nuanced, and emotionally driven Black boy characters, countering the stereotypical portrayal of Black males as troublemakers and criminals who are often targeted by police. Pakistani American filmmaker Minhal Baig sensitively writes and films multilayered, meaningful Black characters. She also takes care not to exaggerate or linger on violence toward Black people, including avoiding the excruciating aftermath of a young Black boy's death. Her work represents a positive cross-cultural collaboration between South Asian and Black creatives.

A pivotal scene involves a shooting, with police showing up in force at Eric and Malik's school. But neither the shooting nor the victim, a child, are shown. The victim also isn't shown at his funeral. The police aggressively raid Malik's family's apartment for drugs (even though they don't have any drugs), scaring them and damaging their property. Argument between friends. A relieved but scared mom yells at her son. Malik's grandmother mentions that there was a fire where they lived in the South before coming to Chicago; the subtext suggests that her family/neighborhood was traumatized by lynching and/or other racial violence. Eric's mother is dead (it happened before the movie starts).

Language includes "hell," "damn," "goddammit," and "oh my God."

Suspicious, aggressive police officers raid Malik's home because they say they were told drugs were hidden there; that's not true.