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I’m Joe Robert Cole, writer/director of All Day and a Night. So in this scene, we’re following our main character, Jahkor, played by Ashton Sanders, his girlfriend, Shantaye, played by Shakira Ja’nai Paye, and his best friend, TQ, played by Isaiah Johns. The sequence takes place during a distinctly Bay Area gathering called a sideshow. Authenticity was big for me. So I tried to incorporate elements, like the BART train that just passed and local people, as much as possible. The guy on the bike we’re following is an example. Even the banter and the slang in the background I tried to make specific to Oakland. The film is crafted to root the audience in an intimate way in Jahkor’s journey. But I wanted to do something a little bit different here. I wanted our three leads here to feel swept up in the whirlwind of people, cars, and culture, and music. So this tracking shot becomes more about how it feels to be at a sideshow than keeping up with them. [OVERLAPPING RAP] I worked out the placement and the camera route with little model cars and people on a schematic in my office. [OVERLAPPING RAP] But I think that the biggest challenge of the scene was figuring out how to safely get our camera between these two moving cars. So as we move into the center coming up here, the car that just passed us ducks out through the crowd. And so we stay focused on this one car here with the ladies in it. And it feels as if the other car is still behind us, when actually, it’s not there. So at real sideshows, people actually try to hit the cars with their hands when they go by. Where we going to be able to put people that close? The answer to that is no. So we had a lovely VFX house that helped us to place our folks without putting anybody in danger. More

Here are a few of the best events happening Friday through Sunday and how to tune in (all times are Eastern Daylight).200 Stars, 24 Hours: Oprah, Julia Roberts and MoreFriday at 8 p.m. on all major social media platformsStarting Friday evening, and running for 24 hours, more than 200 celebrities and leaders — including Oprah, Julia Roberts, Quincy Jones, Yo-Yo Ma, Naomi Campbell, Alanis Morissette and President George W. Bush — will gather virtually for “The Call to Unite,” an event to raise money for Covid-19 relief efforts. Participants will offer messages in their own ways, whether through a performance, story or prayer.When: Friday at 8 p.m. through Saturday at 8 p.m.Where: The Call to Unite’s website and its Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter pages, as well as SiriusXM Stars channel 109. Spotify will have segments available on demand during and after the event.Laughs With Will Ferrell, Chelsea Handler, Bryan Cranston and MoreFriday at 8 p.m. on YouTubeWe’re all in need of a little levity right now, and Friday’s “Covid Is No Joke” virtual comedy benefit might just do the trick. Will Ferrell, Chelsea Handler, Patton Oswalt, Bryan Cranston, Kerry Washington, Elizabeth Banks, Jack Black and Tenacious D, Mindy Kaling and many others will put on sketches, perform stand-up sets and more, as well as offer personal messages, to raise money for the Americares Covid-19 efforts. Sia will close the show, which is hosted by Tony Goldwyn. The first $100,000 in donations received during the event will be matched by an anonymous donor.When: 8 p.m.Where: The Americares YouTube channel and the “Covid Is No Joke” website.Sting Rocks Out From HomeFriday at 3 p.m. on InstagramRolling Stone continues its “In My Room” series on Instagram with an at-home, stripped-down performance by the rock star Sting. The series has featured Joan Jett, Brian Wilson, Lucinda Williams and Jim James. Past streams are archived on Rolling Stone’s website.When: 3 p.m.Where: The Rolling Stone Instagram page. More

Every generation gets its own “Cyrano de Bergerac,” from the Steve Martin comedy “Roxanne” to Netflix’s “Sierra Burgess Is a Loser.” But Alice Wu’s new high school-set film, “The Half of It” (also on Netflix), transcends the limitations that frequently serve as obstacles to ingenuity in young adult movies. By exploring issues of race and queerness with emotional complexity, it treats teenagers with the sophistication they deserve.Wu’s Cyrano is the bookish Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis), navigating the casual racism of her small town while also managing the expectations of the peers who pay her to write their essays. Her way with words makes her the ideal choice to ghostwrite letters for the cute-but-daft football player Paul (Daniel Diemer) to the object of his affection, Aster (Alexxis Lemire). Having yearned for Aster from afar, Ellie jumps at the chance to perform literary drag.[embedded content]Wu’s feature debut, “Saving Face” (2005), was one of the rare films to focus on the queer Asian-American experience. Now, “The Half of It” reflects sharpened ideas and a honed directorial voice. While the question of “fitting in” has clichéd implications in many teen movies, Wu digs deeper, considering the lonely cost of assimilation for a girl whose outsider status is layered.The husky-voiced Lewis embodies, with palpable anguish, the stinging contradictions of emotional freedom and romantic fraudulence that abound when writing these notes. In letters (or over text), you can be anybody and yourself at once, and Wu suffuses the film with a painfully mature understanding of the ache of longing for the impossible. With tenderness, humor and beauty, “The Half of It” comprehends the chasm between wanting and being.The Half of ItRated PG-13 for brief language, teen drinking and the delicate throb of unrequited love. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

In the early moments of “All Day and a Night,” a gut-wrenching drama now streaming on Netflix, comes an emotional courtroom scene. Jahkor Lincoln (Ashton Sanders) sits with a look of stoic resignation in a room packed with the loved ones of the two people he has murdered. Before the judge delivers Jahkor’s life sentence, the mother of one of the deceased stands to speak. “My granddaughter is only 10 years old,” she says. “You took away her whole family and never even given a reason why. That’s all I want to know. Why?”The rest of the film tries to answer that question by chronicling the conditions — both immediate and long-term — that led Jahkor to commit homicide. The movie hops through time to capture three different periods in Jahkor’s life, revealing that as a child he faced bullies both inside and outside of his home. His father, JD (Jeffrey Wright), abused him in the name of “tough love.” “It’s dog eat man out there,” JD says to Jahkor’s mother, Tommetta (an affecting Regina Taylor), after he finds out someone stole the boy’s toy on the playground. “If he don’t learn that in here, he ain’t going to make it.”The idea of “making it” haunts the second period, which follows Jahkor navigating a turf war between rival gangs and the trials of young adulthood, all while attempting to pursue a career in music and maintain a relationship with his girlfriend (Shakira Ja’nai Paye, in a compelling performance). The third period sees him in prison, coming face-to-face again with his father who is also serving time, and embarking on a journey of belated self-discovery.[embedded content]Growing up in Oakland wasn’t easy — for Jahkor, his family or his friends — and, Joe Robert Cole, who wrote and directed the film, effectively shows how certain systems in the United States prime its black citizens for failure. A high rate of incarceration, coupled with chronic divestment in entire communities, means that cycles of poverty become nearly impossible to break. Choice, for many, is an illusion. This message repeats itself throughout the film, and while at times it feels clumsy, it is never tedious. Sanders especially shines among a formidable cast, and in his portrayal, excellently reflects on the herculean task his character faces: How do you believe in yourself when it seems like no one else does? The answer, we eventually learn, is that it’s complicated.All Day and a NightRated R. Running time: 2 hours 1 minute. Watch on Netflix. More