review archive
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Jon Bernthal. © 2024 NEON and ARRAY Filmworks.
Directed by Ava DuVernay. VFA Nominee - "Best Adapted Screenplay"
For Your Consideration (FYC) Screener
The Link of American Racism Is Beyond Through A Caste System After Ava DuVernay's documentary film 13th, audiences have been eager to see what powerful story DuVernay will make next. Origin is her next film and she brings momentum and ambitious scale to the project in a thesis-type film. It is a narrative film but with a mix of documentary filmmaking and cinematic narrative structure that only this project has the guts to do. DuVernay takes long risks for this project and the majority paid off with an important message that speaks to our current issues today. Let's explore the history of the caste system in the USA, Germany, and India. Story: Author Isabel Wilkerson writes her seminal book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, while coping with personal tragedy. There is a lot to digest with this film's themes, messages, and ideas that DuVernay wants to get across. Especially for a narrative structure film, it is hard to tackle this type of thesis story since this story is based on the novel written by Isabel Wilkerson. In this case, DuVernay's vision of the story on the big screen works in ambitious ways that make the experience emotional and thought-provoking. As I said earlier, this film is a mixture of documentary and narrative with its subject matter, the material that the screenplay is adapting, and the structure of the film. From what I heard and read about the adaptation of the book, they say it was impossible or very difficult to adapt in a narrative feature film rather than a documentary or even a television series. However, DuVernay wrote the adaptation by mixing narrative and documentary into one film and it works. There are creative avenues within the screenplay and the story that DuVernay is tackling which gives the certain events being portrayed in the film have depth within the protagonist's journey and the thesis she is creating which adds importance to the film's themes. The story goes international by exploring the issues of racism that are connected to a caste system in Germany, India, and ultimately, the United States. The way we get to see her journey through each country is very depth and we get enough time in each country to see their issues and how it all comes back to racism in America. There are a lot of risky story elements. Some of them worked while some did not. Yet, with those great risky story elements, it adds nuance to Isabel Wilkerson's thesis and also adds more drama to her personal life. The one thing that audiences should know is that this film is half research and half narrative. The structure of the narrative was challenging but it was smooth for the most part and it didn't ruin the overall pacing of the film. Isabel's narrative story worked because the thesis was integral to her personal struggles which made her story more emotional and impactful when her literature journey concludes. The history sequences are ambitious and gripping. You can feel the sense of scale with those historical sequences and it can be quite emotional when you see the intense imagery. With Isabel traveling around the world, it is also quite ambitious and authentic to go to the important places that Isabel is researching for her book. When the film switches back to Isabel's personal story, it is smaller scale but there is still some big scope within the performances and the way it was directed and shot. By combining her personal story and her literary journey, it creates a huge ambitious film that has personal heart throughout in a smaller-scale story that is directed in a rich cinematic spectacle. Overall, the execution and direction of Isabel's literary story, the themes that DuVernay is tackling, and the personal story of Isabel are all fantastic and they worked very great for this type of film. For its characters, they are also great with Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor leading the cast. Ellis-Taylor's performance was amazing and she adds more emotional layers to her portrayal of Isabel than I anticipated. Her tragedy in the beginning comes to full fruition throughout her story arc and it adds clarity to her character story in which it connects to her thesis. Sometimes, I think that the way the film was shot, it felt like she was in a documentary because of her performance communication with the real-life literature authors and researchers in Germany and India. It makes her performance real and alive. The supporting cast is great and there are huge names that are part of the film. Jon Bernthal has minimal screen time but he adds that charm to the film and his chemistry with Ellis-Taylor's character is very great. I am surprised that Nick Offerman is in the film but he's only there for one scene. Fresh Emmy winner Niecy Nash as Marion, Isabel's cousin also gives a great performance and a heartful one as well. Her scenes were great and it adds to Isabel's personal even more than I anticipated. I really loved the dynamic between Marion and Isabel throughout and it was consistent. There are other big names like Blair Underwood, Connie Nielsen, and Vera Farmiga who had a very small role but have importance in Isabel's literary journey. Her journey with everyone throughout the countries she visited adds ambition to her thesis and DuVernay's vision. For a film that is focused on a book thesis, this was intriguing to see this literature journey through a narrative form but in a huge scope. Yet Altogether, it creates a personal journey for Isabel and for the audience to experience her ups and downs as a writer, wife, and sister. It looks like a mess on paper, but through its execution, DuVernay manages to juggle Isabel's personal and literary journey in eccentric ways that work well with the pacing and material that the film is handling. It is a lot but it works through my eyes. Even with its story execution, the ambitious narrative story worked because of the technical filmmaking elements behind the film.
With a budget of 38 million dollars, this is a great-looking film with some ambitious sequences in the period and modern settings. The cinematography looks crispy and very aesthetic like an early 2000s film with a documentary look to it. Yet, with the handheld technique being used constantly, it adds a bit of realism to the film and it is purposeful. I dig it a lot since I love the handheld cinematography style. The period production design and costumes are solid and you can tell with the behind-the-scenes of the film that there were a lot of hidden production elements to keep the image look real. The score is nice but nothing special. Overall, it is a great technical film with a lot of creativity in its cinematography and production design. If we go back to its story, there are some issues that made some scenes a bit messy with its pacing and the material that the film is juggling with.
The structure of the plot can be a bit scattered but it didn't ruin the overall pacing which could have been way more messier if it did. I see many critics saying that it's messy with the themes and ideas that DuVernay is trying to get across. I can say that it avoids that when it starts to be a bit messy. The flow slows down which gives a breather to the literature journey but there were at some points where the flow of a scene can be quite unexpected and it fails. There is one scene earlier in the film where Isabel experiences a tragedy and the flow of that scene was too quick and while it did happen in real life, it felt too quick. There were even some scenes that were mostly in the first half of the film, that wanted me to feel something and I did, but it felt jaded. Luckily, it started to fix those issues in the second half in which I started crying and that's where the film succeeded. It's not an easy film to watch for anyone who experienced racism, antisemitism, or any racial or even religious discrimination. However, it can be quite controversial with some of its political issues and risks that DuVernay is connecting to its core thesis. Especially in the first ten minutes of the film which raised questions about the idea of the caste system. For me, it doesn't ruin anything as long as it connects to the ideas that the filmmaker is trying to communicate and the execution of those ideas works through its story and characters. Even with those risky elements, alongside the critiques of the pacing, it is still a strong ambitious film that takes guts to pull off and it worked in the end. Quite a journey with this review, including this film. I used the word "ambitious" a lot in this review and I stand by it because it is ambitious for the story is trying to tell and it could have been a smaller film. Yet, DuVernay takes the adaptation to its limits and experiments with its structure, characters, and themes it is tackling. These issues and ideas are still relevant not just in the United States, but in the entire world. It's not an easy film but it will build your curiosity to research more about the Caste system and it did for me. This was such a bold film that I can only see DuVernay take the book material and thesis and explore it through the film medium. Already an underrated film of 2024 and a must-watch for indie filmmakers and literary writers as well.
Now Playing Only in Theaters!
Vizeit Score: "A"
(Share this review with your film friends and on social media! Thank you for continuing supporting my indie cinema website.)
Copyright © 2024 Vizeit Reviews / Vizeit Studios. All Rights Reserved. Review Written By: Everardo Garcia Jr. Editor In-Chief/Owner of Vizeit Reviews | (Chicago Indie Critics Member [CIC])
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
Copyright © 2024 Vizeit Reviews. All Rights Reserved. |