Antebellum

Film: Antebellum

Year: 2020

Directors: Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz

Writers: Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz

Starring: Janelle Monáe, Eric Lange and Jena Malone

Review:

This was a film that I remember when it came out. Part of that was that the pandemic delayed it. Jaime and I saw the trailer and we were intrigued to see it. I ended up missing this one when it came time to do my end of year roundup because the consensus was that it wasn’t good. It still went on a list of things to check out. I’ve considered making it a review a few times. I finally pulled the trigger to have this double for Black Horror and Women Appreciation.

Synopsis: successful author Veronica Henley (Janelle Monáe) finds herself trapped in a horrifying reality and must uncover the mind-bending mystery before it’s too late.

We start this with a great tracking shot of a plantation. It appears to be during the Civil War as we see Confederate soldiers. There is a harrowing scene to set the stage where a slave tries to flee during commotion. That attempt fails due to the man who oversees them, Captain Jasper (Jack Huston). Eli (Tongayi Chirisa) watches on in horror as this was his wife. Eden (Monáe) also was a witness having woken up on the back of a horse during the incident.

The film then gives us a lay of how things go on here. No one is allowed to talk. Eli and Eden seem to be forming a plan in secret to get away, but it is difficult. She is visited each night by someone referred to as Him (Eric Lange). She doesn’t have a choice in the matter. Things turn bleaker when Julia (Kiersey Clemons) is brought in. She is brought before Elizabeth (Jena Malone) where she is given that name. Julia visits Eden, telling her about a secret she has.

What then turns everything on its head is that we see Veronica waking up in her bed. She is married to Nick (Marque Richardson) and they have a daughter, Kennedi (London Boyce). Veronica is a writer as the synopsis said, but she’s an activist. She was debating on the news with Senator Denton (Lange) where he says questionable things. Veronica has a lecture she’s giving soon so she is preparing to leave. Before she does, there is an odd call she takes from Elizabeth.

There are other odd things that happen, like the hotel concierge ignoring her and then being cold. She meets up with her friends, Dawn (Gabourey Sidibe) and Sarah (Lily Cowles). There are more odd things that happen. Veronica starts to notice them until everything makes sense as to what we saw and what is truly happening here.

That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Now where I’ll start is that this did lure me in. Something I didn’t include is that we get this quote from William Faulkner about how the past is never dead, it’s not even the past. We have this great tracking shot to set everything up. It can be difficult to watch as we get the lay of what is happening to these slaves. This includes a scene where Eden isn’t following the rules and gets branded. There is then good filmmaking where we see Veronica waking up and rubbing her lower back, where the iron was. What I remembered from the trailer and seeing this, I was wondering if this would be like a time travel film or something along these lines. I’m not going to spoil anything, but that is the vibe I had early on.

Now what I will say is that I love this character of Veronica. She is a strong, independent woman who has a family and loves them. She deals with a dilemma both my wife and I do about how we want to give ourselves to our work, but then that makes you tired when you need to be there for your family. She is doing more important work than me. I love what we hear from her presentation. It is still socially relevant and if anything, it is even more in the forefront with things that have happened. Monáe is great here. She also has an interesting role as Eden. After the reveals, things make sense. What I will say is forcing this character to do what the other version is preaching. I like this idea that they’re just words until action is needed.

Since I’ve referenced the social commentary, let me delve more into that. This film is heavy handed. I do think that at times it is needed. What this is exploring is true. There have been horrible atrocities committed, especially in the United States. Just sweeping them under the rug and pretending they don’t exist isn’t good. Acknowledging them and doing better is what we should be striving for. There are people that do urn for times like this to be back, but they are a radical, small minority. The problem can be that they’re loud and obnoxious. An issue that comes with this movie is that how it explores this topic is borrowed from another movie that did it better. It made me want to watch that film. I do think this would be better served to either veil things better or approach it from a slightly different way. I’ll be honest, I still enjoyed this but it isn’t as effective as it could be.

Let’s then shift gears to go over to what makes this work and it is the acting. I’ve already said what I need to for Monáe. After her performance I thought that Huston was great too. He is such a villain getting into his character. I also thought Clemons was solid in her minor role. I don’t know if we did enough to make Lange work. The reveal there was interesting and I thought they did hide it well enough. I was disappointed though in Malone’s performance. How her character fits into everything worked. She just plays it odd. Chirisa was good and how things work there was heartbreaking. Sidibe and Cowles are interesting and add character in their scenes. I do love Richardson and Boyce to help develop Veronica. They also give her a reason to fight. There is one side character that is minor in his role, but powerful in a scene with Julia. That worked for me. Other than that, the rest rounded this out for what was needed.

I’ll then just finish out with filmmaking. The cinematography, framing and camera movements were good. They do little things here that I appreciated. Whether it was focusing on different things with Veronica to make you think of Eden. Or show you a character that seems off. I will give credit there. I also thought that the soundtrack fit was needed. When we’re seeing the ‘past’, I did like how authentic the outfits look. It does feel like that era. There are limited effects, but it also isn’t that type of movie. There were things that do have realism and I appreciated that, it made me cringe. The only gripe is that I don’t know if it hid the reveal as well as it could.

In conclusion, I didn’t hate this film. I do see the gripes that other people have with this and it is warranted. What stood out to me is that we have a message here that is important, I just think they went a bit too heavy with it. The story to veil it could be better to help with the impact. Monáe is good here and I thought that the rest of the cast do push her to where things end up. I’d say that this is well made with the cinematography, framing, camera movements, the costumes and even the limited effects leading the way. This just didn’t do well enough in hiding the reveal and it makes me want to watch another movie that used it better. I do think the hate is a bit much, but also won’t die on a hill defending. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, I’d recommend it.

My Rating: 6.5 out of 10