"Fences" is a Beautiful Depiction of a Terrible Person

Fences (2016)

Featuring phenomenal performances from Viola Davis and Denzel Washington, Fences is a beautiful and oftentimes frighteningly realistic depiction of a man forever unhappy with himself. Through the poignant and deep script, adapted from the play of the same name written by August Wilson, Fences shows how the selfish and cruel actions of one man can tear apart his life as well as the lives of those around him, including those who he claims to love. Admittedly, Fences is not an easy film to watch, there is almost no music at all and its dialogue driven nature can sometimes make one feel as though they have been forced to sit in silence and watch a family tear itself apart from the inside out - all because of the emotionally and psychologically abusive head of the household.

The writing of the film is phenomenal, effectively transferring the fantastic dialogue of the play to the big screen, however dialogue is mostly all that the film has to offer. In fact, before even being fully aware that the film was originally a play, I found myself feeling more like I was watching a play than I did that I was watching a film. The dialogue and acting remains over the top to a degree that works better for the distant nature of watching an actor on a far away stage than watching one up close and personal with a camera swinging around the exaggerated expression on their face. Bearing that in mind, this sometimes makes Fences feel almost too similar to its original subject matter and it seems to find itself worried with straying too far from the original script of the play. Moments such as a character being verbally forced out of the backyard and into the house with a sudden demand like "go find my saw!" are difficult to overlook and feel far more at home on a stage than they do in a movie theater.

Bearing that in mind, it is difficult to review Fences as a film, because more often than not it doesn't particularly feel like one. Moments of music and sweeping city shots were added in between scenes in an attempt to make it feel more like a movie, but they fall flat and instead come across as desperate efforts to remind the audience that they are still, in fact, watching a movie. While there are fantastic dialogue driven films they often find ways to still feel like films, either through clever cinematography, rotating locations, or even additions of things such as film language and visual cues which otherwise might have gone unnoticed in a play (and I mean one other than the metaphorical fence being built throughout the course of the film, because that's already the main point of the original play itself).

Despite the fact that it's almost painfully obvious at times that Fences is the film adaptation of a play, it's still a fantastic film and still one which I highly recommend for the absolutely awe-inspiring performances given by Denzel Washington (who is the master of playing characters who you simultaneously despise and like) and Viola Davis (who's simply fantastic in everything), but not one which I recommend for any of the other aspects that make a good movie good. Bearing all of this in mind, Fences is currently showing in theaters and I urge you to go and see it soon, because while it's not a film that must be seen on the big screen it certainly is a film which will be more enjoyable with an audience of people reacting along with you as you discover just how complicated and sometimes horrifying its characters truly are.