Starring
Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson, Jovan Adepo,
Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, Sahiyya Sidney. Directed byy
Denzel Washington. (139 min, 2016).
Troy
Maxson is quite a character.
He's harsh and abrasive. Though he may mean well, he's verbally
abusive to his sons, belittling their loftier goals in life, perhaps
because his own life decisions made it impossible to achieve his. He boasts about himself at every given opportunity, yet remains
angry at the cards life dealt him. He's proud of everything he's
worked hard for, but still resentful of those he perceives have held
him back. While we never doubt his love for Rose, Troy's dutiful wife of 18
years, he commits the ultimate betrayal by keeping a mistress who
ends up pregnant with his child. He drinks too much, is
closed-minded, always convinced he's in the right and insists on
dominating every conversation and argument he's part of.
Whether
by his own doing or simply his circumstances, Troy is often a pretty
terrible person, but what makes him fascinating is he genuinely
doesn't think he is. Of course, the best villains were always those
who don't see themselves as truly villainous. I hesitate to label
Troy a villain in the purest sense, since the character's views and
attitude are the driving narrative force behind Fences. After
all, we've all known someone like Troy Maxson.
 |
| Someone had garlic for lunch. |
He's
played with almost manic gusto by Denzel Washington (who also
directed), and like his Oscar-winning turn in Training Day,
it's one of those performances where we forget we're watching Denzel,
the Movie Star. What we see instead is a domineering, embittered man who's
unwilling - or unable - to tear down the fence he's built around
himself - of course, the title is a metaphor, as is the one he takes years
to build in his back yard. The further he progresses on its
construction, the more alienated he becomes from everyone close to
him.
Washington's
performance alone makes Fences worth seeing, but Viola Davis as Rose
is every bit his equal (and certainly deserving of her Best Actress
Oscar). Assertive yet vulnerable, Rose is strong enough to advocate for
her sons when Troy is tearing them down. As someone whose love and
dedication to her husband is put to the ultimate test, Rose is a
better wife than he probably deserves. We suspect she knows it, too,
but would never betray the sanctity of marriage, even as her respect
for him threatens to wane. Davis plays off Washington perfectly,
perhaps because both honed these characters on Broadway first. In
fact, much of the primary cast did, which is probably why they're all
so convincing.
 |
| "Ha, ha...shrimp joke. Haven't heard any of those before." |
From
a narrative standpoint, Washington does right by August Wilson's
play, though aside from a few brief-but-effective scenes in and
around Pittsburgh's Hill District (the setting for most of Wilson's
work), the film never quite escapes its stage origins. Much of it
takes place in a few rooms of the Maxson home and in the backyard
where the fence is being built.
But
that's okay. A movie like Fences lives and dies by its
characters. The film isn't the most uplifting experience on Earth,
but everything about these characters, from their mannerisms &
expressions right down to their dialect & voice, feel completely
real. Even during the most seemingly trivial conversations, we learn
as much about their lives, both past and present, as the words Wilson
gave them.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
FEATURETTES:
"Expanding
the Audience: From Stage to Screen" - How Fences was
adapted while remaining faithful to the play;
"Building
Fences: Denzel Washington" - Denzel's challenge working as oth
actor and director;
"Playing
the Part: Rose Maxson" - A featurette on Viola Davis
"The
Company of Fences" - I did not realize much of the main
cast also performed it on Broadway;
"August
Wilson's Hill District" - Recreating Pittsburgh's Hill District
as it looked in the 1950s
DIGITAL
COPY
KITTY CONSENSUS:
PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS
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