"Passing" and "King Richard"

Still getting through the award season titles.

"Passing" is the directing debut of Rebecca Hall, a small, lovely film about two African-American women in the 1920s who reunite when they recognize each other while both passing for white women.  Reenie (Tessa Thompson) lives in Harlem, married to a black doctor, Brian (Andre Holland), and passes on a whim during a shopping trip.  Clare (Ruth Negga), is visiting from Chicago, where she lives as a white woman, and is married to a bigoted businessman, John (Alexander Skarsgaard).  Clare is totally isolated and uses her renewed friendship with Reenie to reconnect to African-American culture, but her presence brings tensions, and eventually danger to Reenie's family and community.

I was wary of writing anything about "Passing" because it exists in such a specific cultural milieu, and addresses so many thorny issues like colorism and privilege that I don't feel remotely qualified to talk about.  However, I can talk about the performances of the two leads, which are wonderful and fascinating.  Negga and Thompson do such layered, evocative work, always carefully balancing so many unvoiced needs and concerns.  And then there's the complicated relationship between Reenie and Clare, with its shifting balance of power and eventual turn into hostility.  Negga has the more memorable  role as Clare, who is absolutely miserable under her well-constructed facade of gaiety and liveliness.

And I can talk about the filmmaking, which is minimalist and delicate.  The cinematography is black and white, helping the film to look like period photographs of the era, and also to emphasize how Clare exists in this tenuous space between black and white, light and shadow.  I especially appreciate the way that the film depicts Harlem in the 1920s, and the way that African-American culture is portrayed as something so positive and so important to many of the characters.  However, Hall also uses a very light touch, and the script is very interior, so the film never feels like a "black struggle" movie.  It's awfully strong work, and I look forward to more from her as a director.     

Now, on to "King Richard," and I admit that I'm guilty of questioning why a movie about the rise of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams should be focused on their father, played by Will Smith.  Then again, I knew very little about the Williams sisters or their background.  It turns out that they grew up very working class in the rougher part of Compton, California.  In the film, their father tongue-in-cheek refers to it as "the ghetto."  He and his wife Brandy (Aunjanue Ellis) have their hands full raising five girls, including Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton), who Richard is coaching on his own with very limited equipment and facilities.  Their dedication and sacrifice, along with a few shrewd managerial decisions, and a lot of luck, are what ultimately lead to success.

  

The film was designed as a showcase for Will Smith, but it also succeeds at being a feel-good sports movie, and I can't think of a significant one about tennis since "Wimbledon."  "King Richard" is very much a crowd pleaser, and the scenes of melodrama and the suspenseful tennis matches are all handled well by director Reinaldo Marcus Green.  However, it's the script by Zach Baylin I find the most impressive, for managing to address themes of race and privilege in a way that feels genuine while still staying mostly audience friendly.  Also, the depiction of sports culture and the business around rising young players is very good.  A potential sneaker deal becomes a big plot point late in the movie.

Richard Williams is not a particularly likeable figure, but he makes for a great film protagonist.  He's almost the only one who believes in his children for so long, and remains so protective, that he regularly clashes with coaches like Paul Cohen (Tony Goldwyn) and Rick Macci (Jon Bernthal), and even starts second-guessing his daughters at critical junctures.  He strikes me as someone who would be exasperating in real life, but Will Smith's charisma is still a force to be reckoned with, and it's impossible to resist when he turns on the charm.  And this sort of movie is a rarity these days, and Smith is really very good here, so it won me over eventually.   

   

---