by Nathaniel R
Good grief but a lot of trailers have been premiering in the past few days. It's getting very difficult to keep up but we'll keep trying. Today we need to discuss the forthcoming biopic of American icon Harriet Tubman, Harriet, which hits movie theaters on November 1st and is clearly hoping for a successful Oscar bound run...
YES
• Harriet Tubman has deserved a biopic forever so the fact that she finally has one is an automatic and triumphant yes.
• Cynthia Erivo immediately proved she had screen presence following her well-deserved Tony win with well-received turns in Bad Times at the El Royale and Widows. This is a quick leap to headlining a major movie, but we suspect she can more than carry that burden.
• Tubman's story is extraordinary so they shouldn't have plot trouble in making this exciting. Although... (see 'Maybe So' for more details)
• John Toll has won two Oscars for cinematography so we can't wait to see these images on the bigscreen
• Kasi Lemmons is underappreciated as a director so we hope she nails this.
• Despite short filmographies both Janelle Monae and Joe Alwyn have already proven themselves to be exciting screen actors so we're expecting strong performances.
• We're always thrilled when department heads who haven't been Oscar nominated get plum gigs like this in which they're more likely to be noticed. The Production Design is by Warren Alan Young (Emmy nominated for Fargo) and the Costumes -- which look strong in this short glimpse, note how worn and weathered and stained Harriet's escape clothing is constrasted with the finery in the North -- are by Emmy winner Paul Tazewell (The Wiz Live, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert). Tazewell is a major talent to watch. He's worked in television until this point but 2019/2020 will be major breakthrough in movies with both Harriet and West Side Story arriving.
NO
• None that we can think of immediately, though that guns to guns standoff looks so much like a traditional action movie beat that we worry a wee bit. Actually there are quite a few shots of guns pointing at the camera which... well, American movies do this all too much but that's a discussion for another time.
MAYBE SO
• Currently agnostic on Leslie Odom Jr (and yes I did see him in Hamilton but loved his co-stars so much more and didn't fully understand the Tony win) who has a large role here. Very willing to be impressed, though, because whenever people get lots of work (he's in demand) it's best for one's own enjoyment to be converted into a fan!
• Here's the thing... biopics, however worthy their subjects, have inherent problems unless the script and filmmaking and acting are all carefully calibrated. As a lifelong side-eyer of the biopic genre here at the three most common trouble spots of the genre that we've observed over and over again in our years on earth devouring movies:
- Trying to cover too much ground. A two hour movie then becomes like "greatest hits" and none have much impact because there's no satisfying arc but just a lot of this-this-this-this-and-then-this!
- Becoming a hagiography where the subject is no longer human but superhuman without flaws and thus, hardly three dimensional. We should not that #2 is not a problem for a lot of moviegoers but it's a problem for us because it's hard to find perfect people inspirational since none of us are perfect.
- Reducing complex human psychology down to a backstory of one childhood or teenage incident -- "this one event (or one parental action) made the person this way!"
In the specific case of this movie we're most worried about #1 because how on earth can you reduce a life this eventful and influential into just two hours? You could fill a multi-season TV series (or a movie trilogy) with it so hopefully they've restricted the story to a tight time period within her life.