Review of Fences (2016) by Trevor P — 03 Feb 2017

The living situation of the run-down family is meticulously detailed within their all-Negro neighborhood. Mr. Washington plays the indecent ruling patriarch over the home, a full-time colored garbage man, and the home's sole breadwinner. The mother played by Viola Davis (Doubt, The Help) stays at home, wondering where her self-centered husband goes after work each day. The oldest son played by Russell Hornsby (Grimm, Lincoln Heights) plans to pursue a music career, with money bargained by his unwilling father. The youngest son played by Jovan Adepo (The Leftovers) still survives under their roof, dictated by his unloving father. As we see their few highs and many lows under the heated sun, attention never gets lost with the crucial information learnt about their hearts.

Denzel Washington proves how his experience acting on Broadway has prepared him for his tremendous screen direction. He stages the actors to express the household's separation, however much the religious decorations on the house's borders force them together. Although the sets look way too much like on stage, hurting the ability to feel engrossed in an authentic looking worn-down predicament. But the theatrical greatness comes less from the theatrical set, and more from the theatrical dialogue.