‘JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH’
Amazon Prime
Katie Wigglesworth
‘’Judas and the Black Messiah” is very good.
Co-writers Shaka King and Will Berson weave a striking depiction of events around the murder of “Chairman” Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), the enigmatic leader of the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party, who was assassinated by the FBI in 1969. King and Berson take some fictional liberties, but largely stick close to history, stitching the structure of the story around the involvement of Bill O’neal (Lakeith Stanfield), the FBI informant who infiltrated the Black Panthers in order to feed information on Hampton to the Hoover administration.
King also helms the direction of the movie, showcasing his talent for nuance and his ability to work tightly with his cast to craft a mosaic of powerful performances. Kaluuya crackles in every scene, depicting Hampton with a sincerity and power that captivates in every frame.
Domonique Fishback is fantastic as a young Akua Njeri (formerly known as Deborah Johnson at the age she is portrayed in the film), a fellow activist and writer with an unwavering warmth, and a fierce vulnerability that permeates each and every interaction between Hampton and Njeri. Stanfield shines as O’Neal, delivering an excellent performance that touches on the diametrical nature of his existence, despite the character feeling the most underdeveloped textually in the movie.
Overall, “Judas and the Black Messiah” is a riveting watch that I definitely recommend you seek out.
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‘NOMADLAND’
Hulu
Amber-Rose Reed
“Nomadland” is the story of Fern (Frances McDormand), a woman who packs up a fraction of her belongings and takes to the road after the closure of, not just the mine that employed her and her recently deceased husband, but also the town that grew up around it. The book the film is based on follows several itinerant older Americans, and it shows in the film adaptation’s storytelling, as some of Fern’s compatriots tell their stories in ways that feel almost documentarian.
But this story is Fern’s.
She is resilient, grieving, and prickly, and McDormand is utterly excellent. She embodies the character completely, and holds the attention of the viewer throughout. Is it trite to say this is Oscar-worthy? Hopefully not, because it is and I am.
Director Chloe Zhao does a remarkable job of capturing both the sweeping vistas of the American countryside and the insular life of Fern. "Nomadland“ is often a stunningly beautiful film — stark deserts, lush forests, detail rich in a way that truly puts on display how much is out there to see and to appreciate. But Zhao does this without losing the hard moments of life on the road, or the difficulties of being a worker in jobs that no one wants for long, and the film always stays true to Fern’s inner life.
I had a hard time processing my thoughts to write about this one, mainly because parts of it hit me so hard. There’s a gut-deep loneliness in the protagonist that feels very familiar. She is almost constantly at a remove, hearing the music others are playing but unable (and sometimes unwilling) to join in. This is sometimes literally true and illustrated in interesting ways, as when Fern is watching a group gathered around the fire, a man strumming a guitar, and the film’s score plays underneath, discordant.
She doesn’t often feel in tune with others, and the theme carries throughout.
But despite the lonesome feeling that permeates “Nomadland,” there is a resilient and independent spirit to this film, a beautiful story of moving on after things have fallen apart. Fern spends the movie traveling, but it takes her the whole film to learn how to let go and how to hold on.
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