2016 | Dir. Denzel Washington | 139 Minutes
"You've got to take the crookeds with the straights."
In 1950's Pittsburgh, former Negro Leagues baseball player Troy Maxson supports his family working as a garbage man. Worn down by years of sacrifice and disappointment and the day-to-day pressures if a working man, Maxson is too disillusioned to support the dreams of his sons, too heartbroken to properly care for his mentally impaired older brother, and too restless to remain faithful to his wife.
Adapted for film by August Wilson from his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1983 play, Fences features incredible performances under the direction of screen legend Denzel Washington. The story of Troy Maxson is tragic, the everyman weathered by a cruel society who is unwilling and, at times, simply unable to change. Maxson is written as a damaged soul whose dreams are broken by hard life experiences, believing his children would suffer the same misfortunes he suffered if they were to pursue their dreams.
The film unfortunately looks and feels too much like a stage play, ultimately delivering a moving but less than cinematic experience. The scope of the film is limited, and while the production design is impressively authentic, much of the narrative is confined to the Maxsons’ back yard. While the picture is faithful to the stage production it is based on, it might just be too faithful to be compelling as a film.
Denzel delivers a world-class performance as Maxson, the supporting players Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, and Saniyya Sidney are all very good, but Viola Davis is truly extraordinary as Maxson's long-suffering wife Rose. Davis' Rose is powerful, nuanced, and altogether heartbreaking, offering a truly sympathetic emotional through-line for the film. Conversely, Mykelti Williamson is distractingly over-the-top as brain-damaged brother Gabe.
Fences is a thought-provoking drama featuring excellent performances from Denzel Washington and, particularly, Viola Davis. However, for a cinematic outing, it is severely limited in terms of scale. Besides garnering more exposure, August Wilson's acclaimed play may not have benefited much in the transition from stage to film.
FRAGMENTS
- Denzel Washington played Troy Maxson on stage during the 2010 Broadway revival of the play
- Stephen Henderson also appears in Manchester by the Sea, also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2017
