By: Andrew Wing

Passing is a 2021 black-and-white drama film written, produced, and directed by Rebecca Hall (starred in The Prestige and The Town) in her feature directorial debut. The film is based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Nella Larsen, and its title refers to African-Americans who had skin color light enough to be perceived as white, referred to as “passing”. The film stars Tessa Thompson (Creed, Thor: Ragnarok), Ruth Negga (Loving, Warcraft), André Holland (42, Moonlight), Bill Camp (Lincoln, 12 Years a Slave), Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Wire, The Deuce), Antoinette Crowe-Legacy, and Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood, The Legend of Tarzan).

The film follows the unexpected high school reunion of two high school friends, Clare Kendry-Bellew (Negga) and Irene Redfield (Thompson), which ignites a mutual obsession that threatens both of their carefully constructed realities.

The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 30, 2021, and began a limited theatrical release on October 27, 2021, prior to streaming on Netflix on November 10. The film was named one of the top ten films of 2021 by the African American Film Critics Association. For her performance, Negga was nominated for the Golden Globe Award, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress.

THE GOOD

So I actually watched Passing a couple of months ago when it first came out on Netflix, and I have kind of been surprised with how little attention it has been getting from the big awards shows outside of Ruth Negga collecting a couple of nominations for Best Supporting Actress, so I figured I could give it some love by writing a review on it. Just to take you back though, I knew I would be checking this out as soon as I saw the trailer as I am an absolute sucker for some black-and-white cinematography. But more than that, it was Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut and it is always exciting to watch an actor’s first run at being behind the camera rather than in front of it. Also, it’s got Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga, two young up-and-coming actresses leading the way so I was floored to check this out. So without further ado, let’s see if Passing was deserving of some more awards season love or if it just got what it deserved. Keep reading to find out!

I won’t waste any time, this was a really impressive directorial debut from Rebecca Hall. It’s obvious already that she is a genuinely talented director. I say that because you can get a lot out of this particular film if you really pay attention. It’s very subtle but there is a lot that’s communicated in small ways without ever being overbearing, and that is directing talent right there if you ask me. Not only did Hall direct, but she also wrote the screenplay for the film that was adapted from the 1929 novel of the same name. That itself was impressive because when you’re taking from literature you often have to be clever with how you express things. That is the case because literature is so internal, and you could tell by watching the film that this is definitely based on a novel because the character is stewing with several kinds of emotions but it’s hard to tell from the surface what those might be and that is a credit to Hall’s writing.

The film as a whole was just super interesting given its premise. This is such a hard story too and Hall approached it with such care and charisma. I mean it follows Tessa Thompson’s character who encounters an old friend played by Ruth Negga who is African-American but looks white enough to “pass” and live the life of a white woman by pretending to be white. The best thing about it though is that the story only gets better throughout as you see that the two characters become envious of each other’s lifestyles. That’s tough, and I would bet that a lot of directors wouldn’t have chosen this material for their first film, yet Hall did and she killed it. I wouldn’t have expected to see Rebecca Hall get nominated for Best Director, but I did think that a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay would’ve been more than fair. At the end of the day, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a film tackle colorism as upfront the way this film does and I do feel like I got a lot out of it. It’s a thought-provoking slow film to discuss and dissect a little bit that’s for sure and I will probably watch this again to see what else I can take away from it.

All the performances we got here were very good, but Ruth Negga really stood out to me and I can see why she has been getting the most accolades after this film. I still need to see Loving, the film she got a Best Actress nomination for back in 2016, but her performance here was excellent. I would’ve loved to see her get a Best Supporting Actress nomination because her character is one that is both super confident but still wishes to be something else, and she conveyed a wide range of emotions from start to finish and I just loved her performance. Just to touch on some other performances, first with Tessa Thompson. I think Thompson is an amazing actress and I thought she nailed this role as the more introverted one of the two friends. Her performance was unshowy for sure, but it was still a beautifully internalized performance. Lastly, I really enjoyed André Holland’s small supporting performance in this. I have yet to see him give a bad performance, and I sense an Oscar in his near future if given the right role.

In conclusion, the technical elements of Passing were ridiculously good. The cinematography from Eduard Grau was freaking amazing and was completely shot in black and white, and was just so well done. Also, the 4:3 aspect ratio was so perfect, and all of the framing choices felt super purposeful. The production design too was incredible as the film takes place in the 1920s and I really felt like I was taken back to that time period thanks to the sets we got here. And lastly, the music provided to us by Dev Hynes was worthy of applause.

THE BAD

There’s no denying that this is a good film, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I felt a little conflicted with this one. It’s a very contained film and it can feel really slow and boring at times as the movie isn’t always focused on the most interesting part of the story. At times, I think it gets a little too caught up in just jealousy for jealousy’s sake at some point with the characters. I thought this hurt the film because there were so many different topics that this film was juggling and I think it touched too lightly on a lot of them. Passing is short too with a runtime of just over 90 minutes, so I don’t see why they couldn’t have touched on more of those topics more in-depth.

Also, and I’m not trying to take anything away from Hall’s directorial debut because I mean it when I say she killed it, but I would’ve liked her to have taken a few more liberties with the screenplay to try and make it more cinematic. I mean it’s tough with the film being adapted from a short novel, but I think that lack of cinematic moments held the film back at the end of the day. On the same token, because of it being based on a novel, there were these certain subtexts throughout the film that were hard to pick up on, but hey, I will let you know if I pick up on them in my rewatch.

And lastly, I was not a fan of the ending whatsoever. I might even go as far as to say I hated it. It was just such an abrupt way to wrap up the story without giving it the powerful conclusion it deserved. The ending just left a bad taste in my mouth and had me feeling super underwhelmed.

THE VERDICT

Despite the abrupt ending that left me feeling underwhelmed, Passing is quite a promising directorial debut from Rebecca Hall. Her direction and adapted screenplay were exquisite and she makes the most of a talented cast led by Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga who were both terrific. Not only is it well-acted, but it’s also extremely well shot as it uses its black and white cinematography to convey its thought-provoking black and white themes.

Aside from the ending that I disliked, there was just something missing here that left me conflicted. I think they might have bit off a little more than they could chew as the majority of the film wasn’t necessarily focused on the most interesting part of its story.