Fences (2016)

August Wilson adapted his own Pulitzer Prize winning play Fences for this film adaption. He must have completed his adaptation a long time ago because he died more then 10 years before this movie was released. The treatment opens the material up a little bit, there are a few scenes outside of the Maxon family home, and the opening shots of Troy (Denzel Washington) and Jim Bono (Stephen Henderson), garbage men working their route is incredibly open and detailed, with long visits and it feels like you are their in 1956 Pittsburg. The majority of the film is still "a bottle movie" though, it has that stage play sense of confinement, but it also has that stage play richness.

While I know the play by reputation only, man am I impressed by the content of this thing. The characters feels so real, so fleshed out and complicated, Wilson must of spent a heck of along time thinking about this piece and it really paid off. I can't remember the last time I have been so impressed by a source material I have never even seen, but you can feel it in there. At first I thought I knew the basic contours of where this story was going, but a couple of times it really upended me in unexpected ways. The cast is uniformly excellent, it made me remember just what an amazing actress Viola Davis is, and even the lesser known players like Jovan Adepo and Russell Hornsby brought a lot to their roles, even if they didn't always have much screen time.

Denzel Washington is still the star here, both in front of and behind the camera (this was his 3rd directorial effort and he is quite capable in that role). Troy Maxon is the center of this story, he is fascinating and complicated, a man very much of his time, born of the early 20th century African American experience. He is a creature of resentment, pride, appetites, deeply held feelings, he is conflicted and stubborn, a hard man, and sincere one. He would be both easy to like and difficult to love, and inspires devotion and loyalty he does not fully deserve, but that is inseparable form who he is. Washington continues to demonstrate that while he may do a lot of disposable work (I recently saw Deja Vu) he is still one of the finest actors of his generation, their is still a lot in there yet to get out. ****