The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis cop in 2020 spawned a massive push for the US to focus more seriously on its history of racial issues. The Rodney King story is an obvious parallel. However, a lesser known topic from the Rodney King story is Latasha Harlins, a black girl shot by a convenience store owner only days after King's beating.

Sophia Nahli Allison's Academy Award-nominated documentary "A Love Song for Latasha" sets out to look at who Latasha Harlins was beyond the headlines. It's not the greatest documentary, but offers a good look at the life of this girl taken all too soon in an already tense climate. I recommend it.

A very painful documentary, broken dreams, revolt, and widespread outrage at the disproportionate violence and latent injustice, Soon Ja Du, a 51-year-old Korean, did not serve a single day in prison, and that fact also contributes to the Uprising Los Angeles in 1992 and remembered in the Black Lives Matter, a simple production, however necessary, with only speeches and memories from friends and relatives...

I ended up watching this because I am working my way through the Oscar nominations. I knew nothing about the subject matter. The 19 minutes pf this work are very lyrical-abstract animation is even used-and the underlying story is one of raw emotional power. The short fulfills its title as it is largely a remembrance about Latasha by her friends and family. No time is spent on the larger context-it is singularly about Latasha in herself. The film is admirable in that regard but I wish there was like a minute of larger context to bookend the core of the short. It feels like a very well done home movie.