Passing
Has anyone ever even heard of this film? I hadn’t. Well until it was playing at the local independent cinema and a woman who worked there said that she loved it and recommended that I see it. She said that it was a very important “social issues” and “political” film. Hearing that, I was
like, eh, no! I don’t really like the idea of movies being a way for us to think about social and political issues. I think we should just watch and enjoy them for their different ways of sharing art with the world. Obviously, though, I watched it. So something changed my mind. Well, for one, it went onto Netflix, if I had to pay to see it, I don’t know that I would have watched it. For two, I watched the trailer and it looked really interesting. It seemed to be a period piece and shot in black and white. That’s quite interesting in my book and I had nothing to do one night so I decided to check it out.
I was blown away at how much I liked it! And how it wasn’t one of those films where the message is really obvious yet the filmmakers try to shove it down your throat. You can definitely look deeper and find meaning in the smaller aspects of the film but at its most basic level, it is about friendship and how two people from different walks of life can be friends and accept each other.
Tessa Thompson
was fine. When I see her, I can’t help but see a loud mouthed, social justice fighter and I don’t really like that in people. I think that if they’re really good as an actor, they’re portrayal should completely cover up who the person is in the real world. I didn’t quite get that from her. Ruth Negga, on the other hand, was fantastic. Her character completely enveloped her. I believed every bit of the performance, which made the film all the more entertaining to watch. Also, that trans-atlantic accent is hard to do. You don’t want to sound too British but also not too American. Ruth Negga did a perfect job, I thought, more people should be talking about her in this film. For some reason, I thought Ruth Negga was older. I was familiar with her name, but I thought she was a more seasoned, veteran actor. Nope. She is in her 30’s. Alexander Skarsgard has really been typecast as playing the villain or the bad guy in films and TV shows. I can’t say that I am too upset about it, because he plays up playing the hate-able man so well, but I am just not sure that this was the right move for his career. I hope it was.
Well, this film just backed up how much I like the 1920’s and how, under different circumstances, I
think I could live during that time period and be very satisfied. I liked how this was shown as a black and white film. It adds some elegance and articism while also highlighting the difference in the white and black people. Most importantly, how closely Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga resemble white women and how easy it would be for them to “pass” if they so chose to. There were some shots that I just loved. This had multiple shots of a staircase winding up all sides of the camera shot and the floor of the staircase being in the center, as if the scene was shot from the ceiling looking down. I am a sucker for shots like that. There weren’t a lot of shots like that or enough ingenuitive cinematography for the film to be recognized more than I’m recognizing it now. I actually quite liked the score! At some points during the film it didn’t fit in with what was going on, but it really enhanced the feeling of being in the suburbs of New York during the 1920’s.
If you have the chance, you should watch “Passing!” Don’t think that because no one is talking about it and because it had virtually no ad campaign that it is a film that should be missed. It's very entertaining and thought provoking and will hopefully enter the conversation at some point.
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