Review of Fences (2016) by Joelgreenberg — 28 Dec 2016

"Fences" is hobbled by a director. who can't resist showing us everythiing we should be seeing and feeling for ourselves. August Wilson's screenplay, based on his play, tells us quite enough and, occasionally, more than enough about characters' feelings and inner turmoil.

It's all in the faces of an excellent cast, but Denzel Washington, who directed and also stars, can't let good enough alone. In one scene, when Rose, the Washington character's wife, beautifully played by Viola Davis, runs out of the house and drops an important - and clumcy symbolic object - the camera can't resist following the fallen object.

There are also similar lapses when the camera lingers on faces or objects long enough for us to be nudged out of the film's emotional life. And that's exacerbated by much in the latter part of the screenplay when characters are handed stage-bound monologues that don't translate as anything but well-crafted text - poetic imagery and shifts in language replace what had been commonplace dialogue filled with phrases and slang familiar to these people and their time.

August Wilson exhibits the strong influences of O'Neill, Miller and the mid-20th century American playwrights who struggled to create a unique American voice for the stage. "Fences" doesn't benefit from this screen adaptation any more than its central symbol and metaphor, which lands with a thud.