Review of Fences (2016) by Brandon W — 17 Jan 2017

Fences is directed by Denzel Washington, and it stars Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, and Stephen Henderson in a drama film about a family that live off a standard life during the 1950s when dealing with white people sometimes, and the more situations that tense for the family, it'll be at the point where Troy (Denzel Washington) starts to act different and not be what he used to be.

I was pretty excited to see it for facts like Denzel Washington being the director of the film and that the trailers got me sucked in. It also made me curious for the fact that it was nominated for Best Picture in the Academy Awards, and that Viola Davis finally won an Oscar.

So for that matter, let's get to it. I'm actually glad that Denzel Washington is the director as before this, he was actually in Fences back in 2010 from Broadway by playing the same character, so with this, he knows what's the story is about, and what the characters are like, so it makes a lot of sense for him to do it again with a lot of experience and a screenplay from August Wilson that he made before his death, so from Denzel, he did a fantastic job of what he brought into.

The acting is outstanding as the acting is really the main strength for this movie to work, and all of them stand out from another, especially Denzel Washington who's always great, and Viola Davis as she gave it her all here, and thank goodness it paid off for her.

It doesn't really have much of a story, as the conversations are the one that tell the story, and the writing by August Wilson is surprisingly tight for a 139 minutes movie as it's really interesting to watch the talks that they have, especially when you learn more about the characters like Troy who is not that easy to interpret as he's got interesting traits that can easily make people think that he's a nice guy, but when you see some of his angrier traits, you start to wonder even more about what his mindset is, and it can be quite the character study for it.

It's quite interesting how low the production of the setting stuff is, but still look cinematic enough to not feel like a play. There are some heavy themes that were done smartly, and it has some scenes that were very powerful to watch that you understand where they're coming from with their history.

Fences is a strong film that I'm glad I got to see it.