Characters surrounded by barriers of guilt, regret
Fences (out of 4) Starring Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Mykelti Williamson and Russell Hornsby. Directed by Denzel Washington. Opens Dec. 25 at major theatres. 139 minutes. PG
“You’ve got to take the crookeds with the straights,” Denzel Washington’s angry Troy Maxson says in Fences, using a baseball-as-life analogy that comes easy to this former pro ballplayer.
Somewhat the same philosophy might be applied to appreciating the film, which Washington also directed. The one big “crooked” thing about it is that it never quite escapes its stage origins.
It’s noisily adapted from the Pulitzer-winning1987 play by August Wilson, set in 1957, which won Washington and co-star Viola Davis Tony Awards in a Broadway revival a few years back. (Wilson also wrote the screenplay.)
The “straight” things about Fences are in abundance, and they have mainly to do with the acting. Washington, a likely Best Actor Oscar nominee, rages like King Lear as Troy, a Pittsburgh trash collector who feels that God — or is it the Devil? — has thrown him a spitball. He’s steeped in guilt, regret and resentment, for a life of disruptions that include a stint in jail, a disappointing baseball career and an alarming fondness for the bottle.
Note Rosebud’s Beauty Salon, which Troy’s garbage truck passes on one of the film’s few street exteriors. It’s a nod to the rueful “Rosebud” memory of Citizen Kane, where a childhood of contentment yields to adult despair.
Troy does have the love of a good wife, Rose, who for 18 years has kept the family going. Davis plays her with the world weariness of a soul who knows what the truth is but dares not speak it; she’s sure to be nominated and will likely win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Troy also has his friend and coworker Bono (Stephen Henderson), who not only loves him but puts up with him, an important distinction.
The more difficult relationships are with the other men in Troy’s life: his older son Lyons (Russell Hornsby), a jazz musician perpetually on the mooch; his younger son Cory (Jovan Adepo), who wants a pro football career his dad strongly disapproves of; and his brother Gabriel (Mykelti Williamson), a trumpet-blowing drifter whose Second World War head injuries robbed him of a normal life, yet brought a government settle- ment that paid for Troy’s house.
All these are vexations, and there are more to come, but if Fences barely escapes the confines of its titular enclosure, the performances all sound to the skies like Gabriel’s trumpet.