We Grown Now

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Minhal Baig directs. Pat Scola behind the camera. Stephanie Filo cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 2 years ago.
• 2Directed by Minhal Baig, shot by Pat Scola. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 3Editor Stephanie Filo shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 4Blake Cameron James and Gian Knight Ramirez and S. Epatha Merkerson carry the top of the cast.
• 5Marketing tagline: "Don’t be afraid to fly.".
• 6IMDB entry: tt28639049 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 7Only 37 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

Pat Scola

Editing

Stephanie Filo

Production design

Merje Veski

Costume design

Courtney Wheeler

Makeup / hair

Nicole Rogers

VFX supervisor

John T. Miller

Stunt coordinator

Christian Litke

Runtime

95 min · 1h 35m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Box office

$296,188

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG

IMDB

We Grown Now (2024) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

93% 🍅 Fresh

Metacritic

76/100

IMDB rating

6.8/10 · 1,274 votes

MPAA

PG

Also by

Minhal Baig

• 
  Hala

  2019 · ★ 6.3
• 
  1 Night

  2016 · ★ 6.2
• 
  After Sophie

  2017 · ★ 5.2
• 
  Pretext

  2017 · ★ 5.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  "Not Everybody Can Jump" Official Clip

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Filming from a Child's Perspective in WE GROWN NOW with Minhal Baig | TIFF 2024

  Featurette
• 

  ▶
  'We Grown Now' with Lil Rel Howery and Stephanie Filo | Academy Conversations

  Featurette · Official
• 

  ▶
  Official Trailer

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  AFI Fest Q+A with Minhal Baig

  Featurette · Official
• 

  ▶
  Minhal Baig on her film WE GROWN NOW

  Featurette · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Brent Marchant2024-04-22
  ★ 10/10

  No one ever said growing up was easy. It’s inherently a time for a lot of hard lessons, but they’re the kind of teachings that we need to help prepare us for adulthood. And, depending on the circumstances, it can be particularly challenging but also rewarding at the same time. Such is the experience of two young boys, Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez), best friends who go through virtually everything together in Chicago’s notorious Cabrini-Green Housing Project in 1992, a time when it was just about at its worst. Writer-director Minhal Baig’s third feature outing is an intimate, sensitive yet gripping depiction of childhood under difficult circumstances but laced with hopeful aspirations for being able to become whatever we dream about. This nominee for three 2023 Independent Spirit Awards, including best feature, is just about perfect in every regard, from its gorgeous cinematography and expert film editing to its fine original score and the performances of its superb ensemble cast, particularly the young protagonists, who come off completely naturally and effectively. What’s more, “We Grown Now” deftly and simultaneously manages to show the Windy City at both its best and its worst, no small feat, to be sure. In addition. there’s almost nothing in the narrative of this film that we all can’t relate to in one way or another, even if we didn’t grow up under the same conditions as those experienced by the characters in this film. It will touch you deeply and certainly move you – possibly to tears at some point – but this is a worthwhile release that absolutely should not be missed.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Participant

  US

• SY

  Symbolic Exchange

  US

• 

  Stage 6 Films

  US

Key crew

• ProducerMinhal Baig
• ProducerJoe Pirro
• Executive ProducerJeff Skoll
• Executive ProducerAnikah McLaren
• Executive ProducerJames Schamus
• Executive ProducerCarrie Holt de Lama
• Executive ProducerJurnee Smollett-Bell
• EditorStephanie Filo
• MusicJay Wadley
• Co-Executive ProducerRobina Riccitiello
• Production DesignMerje Veski
• Costume DesignCourtney Wheeler
• Makeup Department HeadNicole Rogers
• Best Boy ElectricNicholas Emmanuele
• Set DecorationEric Frankel
• First Assistant DirectorDaniel Lugo
• Special Effects CoordinatorMargaret Goddard Knop
• Visual Effects ProducerTony Pirzadeh
• Visual Effects SupervisorJohn T. Miller
• Stunt CoordinatorChristian Litke
• StuntsPatrick Dunham
• Sound MixerShuling Yong
• CastingAisha Coley
• CastingClaire Simon

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• chicago, illinois
• male friendship
• based on true story
• coming of age
• childhood
• 1990s
• african american

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere2023-10-11· Chicago International Film Festival
• Premiere2023-10-26· AFI Fest
• Theatrical (limited)2024-04-19PG
• Theatrical2024-05-10PG