Fences Movie is the film version of August Wilson's 1983 play of the same name, the sixth in his ten-part "Pittsburgh Cycle", and like all of the "Pittsburgh" plays, it explores the evolving African-American experience and examines race relations, among other themes...it won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play, and, as is the case for most films that are made from plays, it's very heavy on dialogue and character development...
Denzel Washington is already established as one of our finest actors, but in this, his third venture into directing, he may now be established as one of our finest directors...he's very respectful of the material here, and is restrained in his directorial style, focusing more on the actors than anything else...but his own performance as an actor in Fences is still Oscar-worthy, as is that of the ever-watchable Viola Davis...the chemistry of the two of them together here is very powerful...
Really good actors are able to turn on the tears at will, but Ms. Davis seems to be able to do even more than that with her ability to turn on the flow of all the body fluids...I alway feel like I want to hand her a handkerchief in these kinds of roles, but she never fails to turn in a compelling performance...I'm a major fan...
It will be interesting to see what AMPAS does with this one, but I predict it will definitely get a lot of well-deserved Oscar attention...props, also, to Jovan Adepo for his impressive portrayal of son, Cory...
Good film...
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