Identidade

Passing, based on a novel of same name, is a promising story. The premise is unique and draws attention towards a significant aspect of history. And hence makes this adaptation particularly challenging. On certain aspects the film suceeds but the film carries certain fundamental flaws of storytelling which prevents it from being something extraordinary.

Coming to positives, this film is excuisitly pictured. Each frame is designed like a painting. The performances are magical. And the music is enchanting.

But the problem lies on storytelling. In a hurry to adapt the whole novel as it is, certain nuances of character building are missing. The writing is not clear enough to present the ideas it is trying to implement. Sometimes even certain stylistic choices hinders the narrative.

The film starts very well but it fails to captivate in between.

It's beautiful and stylish but it's disappointing. It has a really interesting idea and seems promising at first but then takes a stupid boring turn. In spite of some powerful lines, the screenplay is dull. Performances are very good. It has some good parts but it's flawed, it's a missed opportunity.

"We're all passing for something or other, aren't we?" Irene (Tessa Thompson)

Director Rebecca Hall's successful full-length debut, Passing, shows her artistic inclination to depict women on the verge of breaking away. Irene is a Black woman in the 1920's who could "pass" for white but just spends some time in the white world, being served and accepted in part because she is light skinned.

Now, her friend from her youth, Clare, consciously passes for white, and marries a racist who would kill if he knew his wife were Black. Although nothing shattering happens through most of the story, the racial divide is pronounced between white uptown and Harlem, where Irene and her husband, Brian, a doctor, live in a brownstone with a black maid and the two children he tries to prepare for a racist world they have yet to overcome.

As Clare continues to mingle with Irene's Black social life, Irene quietly assesses Clare's free-spirit and seems gently attracted to Clare. Yet, those feelings are Hall's quiet way of emphasizing the multifaced societal changes in a now truly reconstructed way.

Hall uses a crisp black and white image to accentuate the stark racial differences and the sterile laboratory-like world of incremental societal change. It's also an effective period enhancer. The title "Passing" carries multiple meanings fraught with the dark and light of good clashing with evil.

I couldn't help thinking of Fitzgerald's Gatsby, himself an interloper having romantic notions ill-suited to a society he crashes with dire consequences. Hall has caught the ironies and ambiguities of a society in change.

It isn't all pretty but generally a gorgeous palette with which promising neophyte Hall paints. Isn't it the truth: "I'm beginning to believe that no one is ever completely happy, free, or safe"? Irene

One of the best movies of the year.

Brilliant actress/activist Tessa Thompson And Eduard Grau with his great cinematography

Although I personally don't like the fact that movies are shot in black and white and 4:3 in the 21st century, it was the appropriate choice for this movie.

Although the movie sometimes escapes to clichés, I loved the narrative language.

This movie is just one of a hundred reasons to fall in love with Rebecca Hall.

Rebecca Hall's directorial debut is impressive, to be sure. She proves with Passing that she has a sure hand behind the camera, capturing genuine human connection and emotion with very limited cuts.

The characters and their interactions provide thoroughly thoughtful material that causes one to wonder what-if anything-would ever be able to truly satisfy them in life, and what sort of wishes would bring nothing but heartache if they did come true.

It seems that Hall had a little too much on her mind, as some of the conflict between characters is quite rushed, leaving motivations vague, and it doesn't come across as strong as it should.

Overall, I'm impressed and I look forward to what Hall does next.