Movie Review - Hair Love (2019)

This is the short film that has been playing before the theatrical release of The Angry Birds Movie 2. It's a film that will seemingly be considered for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The short was written and co-directed by Matthew A. Cherry, a football player-turned-filmmaker who's mainly worked in television over the past decade. He directed his first feature The Last Fall (2012), which was a great, insightful look at what happens to a large chunk of NFL players who leave the league broke. This film is in turn also trying to provide an insightful look at what happens to a large chuck of African-American fathers, particularly in relation with their daughters.

Cherry launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund this project. He based this project on YouTube videos of black men styling their daughters' hair. Most, if not all of the videos that Cherry attached to his Kickstarter page are videos of black men doing so. Those black men all have either very short hair or are bald-headed. There is perhaps this stereotype or prejudice that black men don't know how to style their children's hair, especially if said black men are bald-headed themselves. This short in some ways reinforces that stereotype, while at the same time tries to overcome it.

Zuri is the name of the daughter in question. She's probably 5 years-old or so. She has long hair, an afro that's probably twice the size of her head, if not bigger. It's uncombed and wild. She has an electronic tablet that allows her to see online videos. Those videos are self-help or tutorials, showing people how to style a wild afro. However, she's unable of doing so by herself in the bathroom.

Her father enters and sees this. He then efforts to help, but he's nervous. He imagines the hair coming to life and fighting him fiercely. It's funny and the animation is delightful, as well as quite beautiful. However, what's a bit of a head-scratcher is that her father has long hair himself that's styled in what looks like either braids or dreadlocks. The question therefore becomes who styled her father's hair. Also, who manages her father's hair?

That question wouldn't matter or be that significant if it weren't for that fact that her father seems reluctant, if not afraid of his daughter's hair at first. Given his hair situation, it makes no sense for him to feel that way. It's a minor point, but it does reinforce this idea that black men don't know how to style or manage hair, which would be ironic for this father given his hair style.

Yet, what seems to be the driving force is the representation of a black man spending time with his little girl, which is something that is rarely seen in mainstream films or even TV shows. Spike Lee's Crooklyn (1994), Ruby Bridges (1998), Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls (2007) and Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) are the only films that I can name from the past 20 years or so that centers on a black girl and her father.

This film though is also reminiscent of recent, animated short films that have pushed diversity and representation. One such example is In a Heartbeat (2017), an animated short about two prepubescent boys who fall in love. It didn't get the Oscar nomination, which would have made it the first, gay short in that category. Yet, that film didn't have theatrical support unlike this one, so Cherry's chances might be a bit better.

Rated G for all audiences.
Running Time: 5 mins.