Passing [Netflix]

An interesting little film by actor-turned-director Rebecca Hall in her directorial debut. An intimate film about the internal conflicts of a woman as she crumbled under the weight of her own doubts, paranoia, societal-pressure and jealousy. Competently directed by Hall, albeit somewhat rote and predictable, the film was carried more by its leading ladies, a beautifully complex and nuanced Tessa Thompson and the blazingly illuminating and charismatic Ruth Negga. 

Hall, who also wrote the screenplay, presented the film like a stage play and that could be due to budgetary constraints - people stuck in a room/space, talking. At times it worked, the small imitate conversations allowing the viewers inside the characters; but sometimes, it felt cramped and as if the story could not breathe. Although, if we are being generous, that could have been a deliberate choice to echo Thompson's character increasing suffocation.

The film also tried to do a bit too much. Hall tried to juggle the relationships between the two women with commentary on racial inequality, societal injustice, gender disparity and the complexities of "passing", and most of the themes ended up being just lightly brushed across. Of course with a film titled Passing, one would expect that to be central, however after the first act, it kind of just lurked around in the background.

That was a fascinating slice of history that may not have been known to most people, and I would imagine that the story one could mine from it would be equally as rich and compelling. Although, granted, this film was adapted from a novel, and it would have required a female point of view to adequately bring the main characters to life. 

So, in the end, Passing was more a character study rather than a historical drama. 

Regardless, Thompson was outstanding. The little furtive glances and the slight twitching of the body helped to convey a portrait of a woman steadily losing control. Some moments may come off a bit strong - too "acting"-ly - but mostly Thompson glowed and carried the film.

Her co-lead, Negga, had the much flashier role and Negga fully utilised her innate charm and beauty to mesmorise and command her scenes. An overly dramatic character required an equally OTT performance, but Negga shrewdly never pushed it to the realms of caricature. And beneath all that shine and bluster, she imbued her character with a lingering sense of sadness, pity and sympathy.

At just slightly over 1.5 hours, Passing was an easy watch on Netflix. It will definitely be a shoo-in for the indie-awards, but for the big ones, Negga and Hall might be long shots for Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations.