woo

Convincing young Black people to become cops long been a tough sell at summer job fairs.

But in recent months the pool of recruits at the Los Angeles Police Department has shriveled to the point of running dry. The last two training academy classes haven’t included a single a Black graduate.

Despite offering generous pay and pensions, police agencies across the country have struggled since the pandemic with finding enough new officers regardless of race.

At the LAPD, the number of Black recruits — especially women — has been dropping for years, leaving the department far short of diversity goals put in place decades ago to counter discriminatory hiring practices.

Compounding matters is President Trump, who has embarked on a far-reaching campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion, or so-called DEI policies.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell quietly shut down the department’s DEI program during an administrative reshuffling this year. Massive cuts to federal agencies and university programs have some officials sounding alarms about a ripple effect in police hiring.

The Oscar Joel Bryant Assn., which represents the LAPD’s 700 or so Black officers, said conversations about responding to attacks on pro-diversity programs “do not need to wait for the future.”

“[T]hose concerns are here today for all groups,” Capt. Capt. Shannon Enox-White, the association’s president, said in a statement. “When we swore an oath to protect the Constitution and the organization’s very mission statement elevates DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) principles, I do not see how we can step away from them now or ever.”

Privately, some Black department officials expressed frustration with recent promotions announced by McDonnell. Only one Black leader moved up in rank. Emada Tingirides, a finalist for the police chief job is now the first Black woman in the department’s long history to hold the rank of assistant chief.

Many of the department’s older Black officers — who joined the force during a hiring push in the 1980s and ‘90s — are now nearing retirement. Several high-ranking Black LAPD officials, including Tingirides and Deputy Chiefs Gerald Woodyard and Alan Hamilton, have already enrolled in the deferred retirement program, meaning they probably will exit before the 2028 Olympic Games in L.A.

The department’s percentage of Black officers has dipped slightly to roughly 8% of the force, just below the percentage of Black city residents.

Diversity issues aside, the LAPD has grappled with other issues when it comes to finding and retaining cops of the future. The hiring process typically takes 250 days to complete after the background check, polygraph screening and a series of tests that each applicant is required to undergo. LAPD officials have said some exasperated candidates have opted to pursue opportunities with other agencies where the wait isn’t nearly as long.

But for some already in the department, the most glaring problem is a lack of support for Black people in uniform. They point to the quiet closure of the DEI office, whose staff members were reassigned and duties absorbed by other units. Proponents considered it a crucial support system for younger Black cops.

Without such support, they say, Black officers will be less likely to receive the professional development or opportunities to work in specialized units that can lead to supervisory roles.

Others argue that stories about the internal mistreatment of Black officers keep people from applying. This year, an officer from the department’s recruitment unit filed a complaint alleging he had recorded racist, sexist and homophobic comments by colleagues, which McDonnell and other officials condemned and pledged to investigate.

Over the last decade, the department has paid out more than $10 million in settlements or jury awards for officers alleging that they were discriminated against based on their race.

Like the city it polices, the LAPD has seen its demographics change dramatically in recent decades. With the department prodded by lawsuits and consent decrees, more than half of the once mostly white force is now Latino. But the number of Black cops — especially women — hasn’t budged much.

Some police critics said that increasing diversity alone isn’t a fix for larger, systemic issues with policing.

But a succession of LAPD leaders have said that diversifying the agency’s ranks is a priority, arguing that doing so can counter generations of distrust of police by Black Angelenos. Still, progress has been slow. A 2022 study by UCLA researchers revealed strong resistance within the department toward efforts to hire more women and officers of color.

Since the start of his second term in office, Trump has called diversity hiring efforts “illegal,” encouraging federal agencies to investigate and withhold funds from institutions that promote DEI practices.

Ivonne Roman of the Center for Policing Equity, a nonprofit think tank based at Yale University, said the president’s anti-affirmative orders will undoubtedly undercut efforts to turn the tide on declining Black officer numbers nationwide.

Even though most local police departments aren’t as dependent on federal funding as, say, public universities, police executives may feel less pressure to diversify their agencies in the current social climate, she said.

Steps such as the dismissal of Biden-era civil rights lawsuits that accused police departments of hiring disparities could embolden discrimination, she said.

“It’s going to have chilling effect,” Roman said.

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

As awards season begins to take shape, this week the New York Film Festival announced its closing night selection: the world premiere of Bradley Cooper’s “Is This Thing On?”

Starring Will Arnett and Laura Dern as a couple on the brink of splitting up when he immerses himself in the world of stand-up comedy, the film has been described as a “pivot” from Cooper’s previous directing efforts “A Star Is Born” and “Maestro.”

Will Arnett in Bradley Cooper’s “Is This Thing On?,” which will have its world premiere on closing night of the New York Film Festival.

(Jason McDonald / Searchlight Pictures)

Dennis Lim, artistic director of the NYFF, said that in putting together a program each year, he doesn’t mind drawing from films that have already premiered at festivals throughout the year, including Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Telluride, Toronto and others.

“How do we make a case for cinema as an art form that is still vital and relevant? I think programming the New York Film Festival is answering this question,” said Lim. “If I’m going to put forward a list of films that makes the case for cinema as an art form that matters today in 2025, which are the films that I’m going to put forward as evidence? The program is our answer to that question.”

John Woo on Hong Kong action cinema

Chow Yun-fat, left, and Danny Lee in John Woo’s “The Killer.”

(Shout! Studios)

The stylish, delirious action cinema that emerged from Hong Kong in the late 1980s and early 1990s redefined the genre, creating a visual grammar and thematic template that is still wildly influential to this day. The American Cinematheque and Beyond Fest, in partnership with Shout! Studios and GKIDS, are launching “Hong Kong Cinema Classics,” a series to celebrate these explosively exciting films.

Due to tangled rights issues, many of these movies have been largely out of circulation in the U.S. for years. To have them now remastered in 4K from original camera negatives is a thrill and puts them back in front of audiences where they belong.

The series will launch Saturday with the U.S. premiere of the new restoration of John Woo’s 1992 “Hard Boiled,” his final film made in Hong Kong before coming to the U.S., starring Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung and Anthony Wong. Woo himself will be present for the screening at the Egyptian Theatre and will return on Sunday for 1989’s “The Killer” and a triple-bill of the “A Better Tomorrow” trilogy.

Other films in the series include Woo’s “Bullet in the Head,” Ringo Lam’s 1987 “City on Fire,” Tsui Hark’s “Peking Opera Blues” and Ching Siu-tung’s trilogy of “A Chinese Ghost Story” films.

Director John Woo, photographed in Los Angeles in 2023.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

After relocating to America in 1993, Woo would go on to make a string of English-language films in Hollywood such as “Hard Target,” “Broken Arrow,” “Face/Off,” “Mission: Impossible 2” and “Windtalkers” as well as the more recent “Silent Night” and a 2024 remake of “The Killer.”

Speaking from his home in Los Angeles recently, Woo noted what it means to him that audiences still respond to his Hong Kong films.

“I so appreciate all the fans — for all these years they still give me great support,” said Woo, 78. “That’s why I’m so excited. It’s hard to believe that after so many years, I still have a chance to meet the audience and the audience is still excited about it. So I’m very proud.”

The Hong Kong action movies celebrated in the series slowly found their way to western audiences via festival screenings, limited theatrical releases and eventually home video.

Writing about “The Killer” in 1992, The Times’ Kevin Thomas said, “Sentimentality and violence have gone hand-in-hand from the beginning of the movies, but seldom have they been carried to such extremes and played against each other with such effectiveness.”

For Woo, there was a creative freedom while making his movies at that time. Proven Hong Kong directors were often allowed to largely do what they wanted without interference.

“In the rest of the world, I’ve been told there are very clear rules for every kind of movie,” said Woo. “The comedy is comedy. Action is only for the action fan and people who enjoy the melodrama never go to see the action movie. So each kind of movie has a certain kind of audience. But for the Hong Kong film, it is so much different. We had — in one movie — a human drama, a sense of humor and then the action. We can put everything all together.”

Chow Yun-fat, left, and Tony Leung in John Woo’s “Hard Boiled.”

(Shout! Studios)

In a 1993 profile of Woo by Joe Leydon, writer-director Quentin Tarantino, then known only for his debut “Reservoir Dogs,” lavished praised on his fellow filmmaker, saying “John Woo is reinventing the whole genre. The guy is just terrific — he’s just the best one out there right now.”

Tarantino added, “After I saw ‘A Better Tomorrow,’ I went out and bought a long coat and I got sunglasses and I walked around for about a week, dressing like Chow Yun-fat. And to me, that’s the ultimate compliment for an action hero — when you want to dress like the guy.”

Woo has always been open about the influence of filmmakers such Jean-Pierre Melville, Sam Peckinpah and Martin Scorsese on his own movies.

“I just feel like we are all in a big family,” said Woo of his enduring influence, which you can see evidence of as recently as the “John Wick” franchise. “We are all learning from each other. Every time it’s a learning process for me.”

Alex Ross Perry visits ‘Videoheaven’

Maya Hawke records the narration for Alex Ross Perry’s “Videoheaven.”

(Cinema Conservancy)

Having already released the boldly form-defying hybrid documentary “Pavements” this year, filmmaker Alex Ross Perry continues his adventurous streak with “Videoheaven,” an epic essay film about the rise and fall and continued life of video stores and their importance to film culture, with narration by Maya Hawke.

Perry will be in-person for a series of L.A. screenings this week, starting at Vidiots on Wednesday for a Q&A moderated by “The Big Picture” podcast co-host Sean Fennessey. On Thursday, the film will play at Videothèque with Perry in conversation with the store’s co-manager, Lucé Tomlin-Brenner. On Friday, Aug. 8, the film will play at the Los Feliz 3 with an introduction by Perry.

Points of interest

‘Zola’

Riley Keough, left, and Taylour Paige in “Zola.” Its director, Janicza Bravo, will attend the movie’s screening Thursday at the Academy Museum.

(Anna Kooris / A24)

The Academy Museum is screening Janicza Bravo’s 2020 “Zola” on Thursday with the filmmaker in person. Written by Bravo and Jeremy O. Harris, the film is based on a notorious 2015 Twitter thread by A’Ziah “Zola” King that chronicled an uproarious tale of a road trip gone very wrong. With a cast that includes Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun and Colman Domingo, the film plumbs disorientation and information overload both with equal skill.

Bravo, who has directed recent episodes of “The Bear” and “Too Much” (also appearing in the latter as an actor) spoke at the film’s release about balancing outrageous humor with the darker currents of its story, which touch on complex issues around sex work, sex trafficking and race.

“If it were a not funny movie about sex work and sex trafficking, I don’t think that I would be the right director for it,” said Bravo. “But A’Ziah King, who wrote this story, had imbued it with so much dark humor — you’re laughing at some of the most disturbed moments. … Her way of exorcizing her trauma — it feels so familiar to me. I feel so close to it. This is how I move through the world.”

“Zola” is screening as part of the series “American Gurl: Seeking…” which spotlights coming-of-age films about women of color. Also upcoming in the series is Martine Syms’ “The African Desperate”; Minhal Baig’s 2019 “Hala,” starring Geraldine Viswanathan; Nisha Ganatra’s “Chutney Popcorn” in 35mm with the filmmaker in conversation with Fawzia Mirza; Robert Townsend’s 1997 “B.A.P.S.” in 35mm with screenwriter Troy Byer and Spike Lee’s “Girl 6” in 35mm.

‘Taxi Zum Klo’

The 45th anniversary re-release poster for “Taxi Zum Klo.”

(Altered Innocence)

For its 45th anniversary, Frank Ripploh’s 1980 German film “Taxi Zum Klo” is returning to theaters in a new 4K restoration. A semi-autobiographical tale of a schoolteacher (played by Ripploh) exploring Berlin’s queer underground scene, the film was groundbreaking for its unapologetic candor. The film will have a limited run at the Los Feliz 3, playing on Aug. 5, 10 and 12.

In a 1981 review of the film, Sheila Benson wrote, “Films like ‘Taxi’ as so rare as to be unique, a collage of cinema journalism, an unblinking (but selective) view of homosexual life and intensely personal sexual images.”

Merle Oberon and ‘Dark Waters’

Merle Oberon, center, in 1944’s “Dark Waters.”

(United Artists / Photofest)

On Saturday the UCLA Film and Television Archive will have a 35mm screening of André de Toth’s 1944 “Dark Waters,” starring Merle Oberon. Along with the film there will be a Q&A with Mayukh Sen, author of the book “Love, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood’s First South Asian Star,” moderated by programmer and critic Miriam Bale. Sen will also do a signing before the screening.

A tense thriller that combines elements of Southern Gothic and film noir, the movie is about an heiress (Oberon) who finds herself taking refuge at a relative’s Louisiana plantation. She becomes embroiled in local intrigues and entanglements.

Writing about the movie in 1945, Philip K. Scheuer said, “The production builds suspense rather ingeniously, and culminates in an exciting night-shrouded chase in and around the bayou. … Miss Oberon never tops her initial outburst of hysterics, which I found pretty terrifying, but it is nice to see her in the part.”

In other news

‘Cat Video Fest’ returns

An image from “Cat Video Fest 2025.”

(Oscilloscope Laboratories)

The “Cat Video Fest” is back for its eighth installment, playing at Vidiots, the Alamo Drafthouse DTLA and multiple Laemmle locations. Created and curated by Will Braden, the series has raised more than $1 million since 2019 to help shelters, support adoptions and foster care and volunteer sign-ups.

Yes, you can watch plenty of cat videos on your phone. But sitting in a theater delighting in them with an audience is something else entirely.

California’s most loyal Democrats got a good look this weekend at the wide field of gubernatorial candidates jockeying to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom at the state Democratic Party’s annual convention in Anaheim, with a few chiding former vice president and potential rival Kamala Harris.

The Democrats running for governor in 2026 hurried among caucus meetings, floor speeches and after-parties, telling their personal stories and talking up their bona fides for tackling some of California’s most entrenched problems, including housing affordability and the rising cost of living.

All the hand-shaking and selfies were done in the absence of Harris, who would be the most prominent candidate in the race, and who has not said whether she’ll run for governor in 2026 or seek the White House again in 2028.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond walks on stage to address California Democrats.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

The most visible candidates at the convention were former state Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, businessman Stephen J. Cloobeck, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and former state Controller Betty Yee, with former Rep. Katie Porter, state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa taking less prominent roles.

With the primary still a year away, the gubernatorial race is still in limbo. Two prominent Republicans are also in the race: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton.

Many Democratic activists, donors and elected officials said they were waiting to make up their minds until Harris makes up hers, because her entry into the governor’s race could push some candidates off the ballot or into other statewide races.

“People are kind of waiting to see what she’s going to do,” said Matt Savage, a delegate from San Jose, as attendees ate chia seed pudding and breakfast burritos at a breakfast hosted by Yee. “She needs to decide soon.”

Yee told the crowd: “Regardless of who gets in the race, we’re staying in.”

Businessman and gubernatorial candidate Stephen Cloobeck talks to his canvassers Friday after speaking at the Democratic Party’s labor caucus meeting in Anaheim.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Surrounded by canvassers who chanted his name as he talked, Cloobeck, a political newcomer, scolded Harris for not coming to the gathering of Democrats after her loss to President Trump in the November presidential election.

“If she decides to get in this race, shame on her for not showing up for the most important people in the party, which is the people who are here today,” Cloobeck said. “And if she doesn’t have the IQ to show up, she’s tone deaf once again.”

In a three-minute recorded video, Harris told Democrats that with Republicans working to cut taxes for the rich and dismantle efforts to fight climate change, “things are probably going to get worse before they get better.”

“But that is not reason to throw up our hands,” Harris said. “It’s a reason to roll up our sleeves.”

Polling shows that if Harris were to run for governor, she would have a major advantage: A November survey from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times, found that about 72% of Democrats would be very likely or somewhat likely to consider voting for her.

Cloobeck said his campaign had spent “probably a couple hundred thousand dollars” on the canvassers, who wore royal blue shirts emblazoned with his name and distributed glossy invitations to a comedy night with “Roastmaster General” comedian Jeff Ross. One canvasser said he was paid $25 an hour and found the job on Craigslist.

At the party’s LGBTQ caucus meeting, Atkins, the only well-known gay candidate in the race, told the cheering crowd that she dreamed of making California work for others the way it had worked for her. Atkins, 62, was raised in southwest Virginia by a coal miner and a garment worker and moved to San Diego in her 20s.

“California has given me every opportunity,” Atkins said. “I want that promise to be true for everyone.”

Gubernatorial candidate and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa speaks to the Latino caucus at the state Democratic Party convention on Saturday.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

At the Latino caucus, Villaraigosa said that the Democratic Party needs to focus on the affordability crisis facing working-class Californians, many of whom are Latinos, by tackling high gas prices, home prices, utility costs and other day-to-day cost of living challenges.

Villaraigosa, 72, has been out of elected office for more than a decade. He last ran for for governor in 2018, placing a distant third in the primary behind Newsom and Republican businessman John Cox. He noted that he also lost the 2001 mayor’s race before winning in 2005.

“Sometimes it takes two times,” Villaraigosa said to the caucus. “We’re ready, we’re not invisible. We’re going to stand up for working people and our communities.”

Thurmond told the crowd during the party’s general session on Friday afternoon that education is “the centerpiece of our democracy.” It brought his grandparents to the U.S. and saved his life after his mother died when he was 6, he said.

“We must continue to be the resistance against Donald Trump’s misguided policies,” he said. “We will ensure that every student in this state has access to good quality education. And while we’re at it, we will not allow for ICE to be on any of our school campuses.”

Four candidates made brief appearances before the party’s powerful organized labor caucus, trying to make the case that they would be the best choice for the state’s more than 2.4 million union members.

In a 45-second speech, Cloobeck told the union members that he used union labor in his hotel development projects and promised that if he were elected, he would support workers getting “full pay, full wages” if they went on strike.

Yee said she’d “protect and advance your precious pension funds.” She took a passing shot at Newsom’s now-infamous dinner at the French Laundry in Napa Valley during the COVID-19 pandemic. Newsom attended a lobbyist’s birthday party at the upscale restaurant after he had pleaded with Californians to stay home and avoid multifamily gatherings.

“I’m not about gimmicks,” Yee said. “I’m the least flashy person. Hell, I’ve not even stepped foot in the French Laundry — but I can tell you, I grew up in a Chinese laundry.”

Kounalakis told the party’s labor meeting that her father immigrated to the U.S. at age 14 and worked his way through college as a waiter at the governor’s mansion before building a successful development company in Sacramento.

Her vision of California’s future, she said, is massive investment in water infrastructure, clean energy infrastructure, roadway infrastructure and housing: “We’re going to build the future of this state, and we’re going to do it with union labor.”

Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary and gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra speaks to the state Democratic Party’s labor caucus on Friday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

At the party’s senior caucus meeting, Becerra told Democrats that he was raised by working-class, immigrant parents who bought their own home in Sacramento, then questioned whether a couple without college degrees could do the same today.

He touted his experience fighting GOP efforts to cut Social Security Disability Insurance as a member of Congress and work lowering drug costs as President Biden’s health chief.

“We’re going to fight for you,” Becerra said.

At the women’s caucus, Porter, who left Congress in January after losing a run for Senate, said she was concerned that Trump’s budget cuts and policies will have a disproportionate impact on mothers, children and the LGBTQ+ community.

“That s— is not happening on my watch,” Porter said.

Former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, a candidate for California governor, waits to address the women’s caucus at the California Democratic Party convention Friday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Ann McKeown, 66, president of the Acton-Agua Dulce Democratic Club in Los Angeles County’s High Desert, said she had wanted Harris to be the president “so badly,” but Porter is her top choice for governor.

“Kamala is nicer than Katie Porter,” McKeown said, “and we don’t need nice right now.”

Delegate Jane Baulch-Enloe of Contra Costa County and her daughter spread the contents of their bag of Democratic Party swag across a table, taking stock of the flyers and campaign memorabilia, including a Becerra for Governor button, a clear plastic coin purse from Yee and a blue Thurmond bookmark that read, “Ban fascism, not books.”

Baulch-Enloe, who teaches middle school English and history, said she originally thought she’d support Thurmond because he understands education.

“But now that there’s so many people in the race, I’m not sure,” Baulch-Enloe said.