Exhibiting Forgiveness

In his feature film directorial and screenwriting debut, artist Titus Kaphar has confidently created a semi-autobiographical work that deserves a wider audience than it has received. This powerful, unsentimental 2024 film tenderly explores a familiar movie trope, a father-son estrangement, but through an unflinching lens of toxic masculinity, familial rage, and generational trauma. A stellar quartet of accomplished actors fully embodies the often painful story of Tarrell, a burgeoning artist whose father La'Ron, a recovering crack addict, re-enters his life at the behest of his endearing, religious mother Mama Joyce. While Tarrell pushes Joyce to pack her house and move closer to his own family of three, she remains steadfast in realizing a reconciliation that proves devastating for all involved. Still memorable as Kevin in "Moonlight", Andre Holland is riveting as Tarrell as he manages to convey fierce resentment and anger with palpable currents of loss and exhaustion. John Earl Jelks maintains potent gravitas as La'Ron desperate to be forgiven for his past sins, and Andra Day plays Tarrell's musician wife Aisha with economic precision. It's no surprise to me that Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor ("Nickel Boys") handily dominates the film with her gut wrenching performance as Mama Joyce. Special mention should be given to Ian Foreman's heartbreaking turn as young Tarrell in the painful flashback scenes. There are a few flaws. While the details of past traumas are unpeeled effectively, they add marginally less to the story as they function more as reference points. Also, some of Kaphar's dialogue is too on-the-nose to be fully resonant. Regardless, the commitment of the superb cast takes this film to the next level.

Honestly, I went into watching 'Exhibiting Forgiveness' with no expectations at all. There's a stellar cast here and I figured anything with Aujunue Ellis was bound to be descent. I was so pleasantly surprised by this film that really tackles some taboo subjects in the Black community like drug abuse, physical abuse, generational trauma, religious abuse, etc. It goes in and takes such a realistic look at the grieving process and what forgiveness actually looks like. The dialog was fantastic and this was my first time seeing Andre Holland in a film. POWERHOUSE. Thank goodness this didn't rely on the tropes that we often see in cinema surrounding this subject matter. Very strong feature debut from Titus Kaphur. I can't wait to see him share more of his art with the world.

If you haven't had any reason to forgive than count yourself lucky & go watch the born identity or oceans 15.. Those who understand this movie will understand its necessary experience in film. Its a movie about life not a movie to forget life. Although i wish for those who brought this narrative to film would have found the ultimate expression of forgivness for their own father... as an autobiographical inference is unavoidable.. i understand the journey is personal.. regardless the experience was important, however gut wrenching some of its content for the experienced.. like a stone pulling you to the bottom of the ocean. I can only hope for those on this journey they find the path to forgiveness so they can learn to float.. God bless the team of creators that had the courage & the stomach to portray this important work in an unapologetic & honest exhibition of the human condition.

Watched this at Sidewalk Film Festival and was absolutely moved to ugly tears in the theater. I went in having only seen the trailer and expected a typical telling of learning how to forgive. This was much deeper and incredibly done, having many parallels to my own life I was not prepared for how deeply this movie would affect and impact me. Crowd reactions were very interesting and intense and quite telling as to who had experienced similar trauma and who was able to laugh at the jokes surrounding the situation. The film was inspiring, healing, painful and powerful, with an emphasis on showing the reality of how our actions impact others permanently. Amazing directorial debut and stellar performances by all the cast.

"Exhibiting Forgiveness" exceeded all my expectations. I went to this film based on its trailer and successful film festival run. But I wasn't sure what I'd actually be seeing when I entered the cinema. What I saw when I watched this film was this - a moving story, with a strong emotional core; characters with complexity, humanity, flaws. There was sadness, but also humor. A lovely story about an African American artist and his family, all struggling in different ways with the past. It was deep but I didn't look at the time on my phone once during the 2 hour run time. The acting was phenomenal. It should be remembered at awards time.