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  • PASSING (film review by Mark R. Leeper)

    From Mark Leeper@21:1/5 to All on Wed Feb 16 08:18:56 2022
    In PASSING, two old friends meet; both are African-American, but
    Irene (Reenie, played by Tessa Thompson) is married to an African-
    American man and living in Harlem as an African-American. Clare
    (played by Ruth Negga) is married to a white man and "passing" as
    white--even her husband John, a vocal racist, does not know the
    truth. When John meets Reenie in the company of his wife, he
    obviously thinks Reenie is white. (This in spite of Reenie's skin
    color and facial structure, which would seem to have given him some
    pause. To the audience of the film, Reenie looks like an African-
    American passing as white.)

    The film has crisp black and white photography like something out
    of classic "Life" magazines. Is this a bit of a pun, an attempt to
    evoke 1929, a way to make it easier to use lighting and/or make-up
    to emphasize or conceal race, or a bit of all of them? The
    director also uses camera angles, such as when Irene and Clare are
    climbing some stairs the director has them look down in the center
    of a spiral moving inwards, paralleling both their confinements
    imposed on them by a racist society.

    This is, I believe, the first film about "passing" that is not
    written and directed entirely by white Americans. It is based on a
    work by an African-American writer (the book by Nella Larsen), and
    the writer/director Rebecca Hall has English, Dutch, and African-
    American origin. The three best-known films on this topic before
    this were IMITATION OF LIFE (1934 and 1959) and PINKY (1949).

    Released on Netflix 11/10/21. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or 7/10.

    Film Credits:
    <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8893974/reference>

    What others are saying:
    <https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/passing_2021>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From william ahearn@21:1/5 to Mark Leeper on Wed Feb 16 12:36:01 2022
    On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 11:19:02 AM UTC-5, Mark Leeper wrote:
    The three best-known films on this topic before
    this were IMITATION OF LIFE (1934 and 1959) and PINKY (1949).

    The British-made Sapphire as the third?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Evelyn Leeper@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Feb 17 06:15:42 2022
    On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 3:36:04 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 11:19:02 AM UTC-5, Mark Leeper wrote:
    The three best-known films on this topic before
    this were IMITATION OF LIFE (1934 and 1959) and PINKY (1949).

    The British-made Sapphire as the third?

    The three Mark listed were IMITATION OF LIFE (1934), IMITATION OF LIFE (1959), and PINKY (1949). SAPPHIRE would be a fourth, but not nearly as well know as those three.

    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From william ahearn@21:1/5 to Evelyn Leeper on Thu Feb 17 09:25:12 2022
    On Thursday, February 17, 2022 at 9:15:46 AM UTC-5, Evelyn Leeper wrote:
    On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 3:36:04 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 11:19:02 AM UTC-5, Mark Leeper wrote: The three best-known films on this topic before
    this were IMITATION OF LIFE (1934 and 1959) and PINKY (1949).

    The British-made Sapphire as the third?
    The three Mark listed were IMITATION OF LIFE (1934), IMITATION OF LIFE (1959),
    and PINKY (1949). SAPPHIRE would be a fourth, but not nearly as well know as those three.
    But a far better film than the embarrassing Pinky.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From trotsky@21:1/5 to william ahearn on Fri Feb 18 05:28:46 2022
    On 2/17/2022 11:25 AM, william ahearn wrote:
    On Thursday, February 17, 2022 at 9:15:46 AM UTC-5, Evelyn Leeper wrote:
    On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 3:36:04 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 11:19:02 AM UTC-5, Mark Leeper wrote: >>> The three best-known films on this topic before
    this were IMITATION OF LIFE (1934 and 1959) and PINKY (1949).

    The British-made Sapphire as the third?
    The three Mark listed were IMITATION OF LIFE (1934), IMITATION OF LIFE (1959),
    and PINKY (1949). SAPPHIRE would be a fourth, but not nearly as well know as >> those three.
    But a far better film than the embarrassing Pinky.


    LOL. What part of "best known" confused the crap out of you?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From william ahearn@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Fri Feb 18 14:19:17 2022
    On Friday, February 18, 2022 at 6:28:20 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On 2/17/2022 11:25 AM, william ahearn wrote:
    On Thursday, February 17, 2022 at 9:15:46 AM UTC-5, Evelyn Leeper wrote:
    On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 3:36:04 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 11:19:02 AM UTC-5, Mark Leeper wrote: >>> The three best-known films on this topic before
    this were IMITATION OF LIFE (1934 and 1959) and PINKY (1949).

    The British-made Sapphire as the third?
    The three Mark listed were IMITATION OF LIFE (1934), IMITATION OF LIFE (1959),
    and PINKY (1949). SAPPHIRE would be a fourth, but not nearly as well know as
    those three.
    But a far better film than the embarrassing Pinky.
    LOL. What part of "best known" confused the crap out of you?

    It's a bullshit answer. Pinky is well known and Sapphire isn't? To who? This is supposedly a community of film buffs, yet Leeper still lives in an all-white, Hollywood-only, critics-rule imagined universe. Even being directed by Elia Kazan -- because
    John Ford walked off, or was fired -- Pinky isn't all that well known.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From trotsky@21:1/5 to william ahearn on Sat Feb 19 15:48:39 2022
    On 2/18/2022 4:19 PM, william ahearn wrote:
    On Friday, February 18, 2022 at 6:28:20 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On 2/17/2022 11:25 AM, william ahearn wrote:
    On Thursday, February 17, 2022 at 9:15:46 AM UTC-5, Evelyn Leeper wrote: >>>> On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 3:36:04 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 11:19:02 AM UTC-5, Mark Leeper wrote: >>>>> The three best-known films on this topic before
    this were IMITATION OF LIFE (1934 and 1959) and PINKY (1949).

    The British-made Sapphire as the third?
    The three Mark listed were IMITATION OF LIFE (1934), IMITATION OF LIFE (1959),
    and PINKY (1949). SAPPHIRE would be a fourth, but not nearly as well know as
    those three.
    But a far better film than the embarrassing Pinky.
    LOL. What part of "best known" confused the crap out of you?

    It's a bullshit answer. Pinky is well known and Sapphire isn't


    I'm not going to argue that point, I haven't seen either. In this case,
    as much as I hate to admit it, I'd have to defer to your experience.


    ? To who? This is supposedly a community of film buffs, yet Leeper still
    lives in an all-white, Hollywood-only, critics-rule imagined universe.
    Even being directed by Elia Kazan -- because John Ford walked off, or
    was fired -- Pinky isn't all that well known.


    I haven't heard of it, and I'm certainly familiar with Kazan.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From kelown@21:1/5 to All on Tue May 10 04:24:57 2022
    Even being directed by Elia Kazan -- because John Ford walked off, or
    was fired -- Pinky isn't all that well known.

    I haven't heard of it, and I'm certainly familiar with Kazan.

    You should have heard of Pinky. Jeanne Crain received a Best Actress
    Oscar nomination for her performance in that 1949 film.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)