Ava DuVernay’s latest film has critics buzzing. SHIFTER’s Kevin Bourne calls it a “revelation” and “an eye-opening masterclass in filmmaking” in his Origin film review.
There are handful of eye=opening films from African-American directors screening at TIFF this year which tackle the subject of race in America. Among those is Ava DuVernay‘s “Origin” which recently had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, earning a standing ovation. In the process, DuVernay became the first African-American woman to screen a film during Venice’s official competition since it was founded 80 years ago.
The film is based on a true story about Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Isabel Wilkerson (Oscar nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), and her process of writing her York Times bestseller Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. The
It all started when Wilkerson was approached by a newspaper editor (Blair Underwood) to write an article about the murder of Trayvon Martin. While considering the article, it raises questions about whether the murder was, in fact, due to race or something bigger. When she decides to decline, her husband Brett (Jon Bernthal), encourages her to stop hiding and use her writing to say something. After a personal tragedy, she decides to write her book on caste that would take her as far as Germany and India, weaving a common thread through the treatment of the disenfranchized in different countries.
The film is also eye-opening in how it draws a direct connection between Jim Crowe laws in the United States and German policies which led to the Holocaust.
INTERVIEW WITH AVA DUVERNAY – WATCH NOW
What makes the film work is the onscreen is the relationship between Wilkerson and both her husband Brett and her cousin (Niecy Nash) who is the ying to Wilkerson’s yang. While Wilkerson is the almost scholarly thinker, her cousin is the “everyman” who forces Wilkerson to simplify her ideas while providing some comic relief to an otherwise heavy subject matter. Meanwhile, the chemistry between Jon Bernthal and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, who play a rare interracial couple on the big screen, is palpable and believable as he plays the supportive take charge husband.
Visually, the Oscar-nominated DuVernay displays a style that is different than other directors. She uses flashbacks and historical dramatizations to draw connections between Germany and Jews, India and Dalit people, and whites and Blacks in both historical and modern-day America. She also uses more artistic shots to depict Wilkerson’s inner thoughts, and gets creative with spacing relative to her subject.
Overall, this movie is a revelation and an eye-opening masterclass in filmmaking that up-and-coming filmmakers should study and aspire to. While “revelation” and “eye-opening” are words which have been used to describe films before, this film wears it differently as it weaves together connections that span geography and time thanks to Wilkerson’s original book. If the TIFF screening is any indication, this movie will move many to tears.
SHIFTER editor and Senior Entertainment Reporter, Kevin Bourne, is a Toronto-based entertainment journalist focusing on Black music and film & TV. He was named one of 310 international voters for the 81st Golden Globe Awards by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and a Tomatometer-Approved Critic by Rotten Tomatoes.
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