a FENCES musing

This was a pretty good, solid film; my favorite thing about FENCES was the dialogue, as it felt so natural and was damn engaging, and having the playwright write the screenplay helped a lot. I was hooked the minute the film started, with the fast dialogue making me lean in, but as the movie progressed, it grew a little tiring having to keep up with every line and anecdote. Since this was a stage play before, I thought coming into the movie that all the scenes would feel static, but Denzel does a good job directing and using the camera to more intimately explore each scene, and have the house and all of its rooms be its own character. Denzel and Viola Davis absolutely kill their roles, and Davis deserves an Oscar for what she does in the movie. The story really puts her character to the test, and it’s no wonder that she (and Denzel) won Tonys for these roles on Broadway.

Although I liked a lot of it, I just can’t seem to find what made FENCES not completely work for me. All the character relationships are so well created and treated; but it was just a good, dependable film with great performances. 7/10.