Fences * * * *

I felt like I’d fallen through a time warp. I mean, I was asking myself “How old is this friggin’ thing?!”   Going by the style of writing I figured it’d have to be older than me, that’s for sure. It’s like something Eugene O'Neill would have written.  They used to call this style “Realism” which is hysterical when you actually sit through it.   I could only ask “What the heck kind of Reality is this?! I mean who talks like this?”

Viola patiently listens (as do we).

     Anyway this is a film of a play by August Wilson. He wrote this in the 80’s (the 1980’s that is) and set it in the fifties.  Not for one moment would I question the brilliance of his work. He was an immensely talented writer, that’s for sure, but ….. it’s so clunky! I can only imagine that is the way he wanted it to be.  Just like it was written by one of the great “Realists”.

    This kind of theatre is typified by some principal character giving extensive  monologues full of wisdom and symbolism, dreams and visions whilst the rest of the cast lean against walls or sit on steps and listen with intent.  Or slabs of expository dialogue so we’ll get to understand how he or she ticks. And the whole thing usually centres around f**d up families.

    Anyway, just like changes in popular music, just like changes in novels, just like changes in art, “Realism” had it’s time. And to watch it now is to watch a museum piece.

    Yes, it’s still good, just like old art and old music is still good. Though I don’t know why anyone would want to recreate it.  In Fences August Wilson recreated that style of writing so perfectly you can barely tell it apart from the real old stuff. Maybe that’s what Denzel Washington liked about it and why he decided to turn it into a film.

    But it’s a play, and it looks and feels like one.  Most of the action is set in the backyard of an inner city house (the kind of inner city property that only poor people lived in once but only rich people can afford now).  Denzel Washington plays a hardworking dustman with a cold relationship with his sons and a secret from his wife. He has a best buddy who he talks to a lot and a brother whose war trauma and injuries have turned him into a simpleton.

    If you like this style of writing Fences is as good as it gets.  The direction is as good as most films which strive to be adaptations of a play.  The acting from both Denzel and his wife - Viola Davies - is outstanding. She is particularly good, resisting the temptation to enact her dialogue with histrionics, she shows a level of restraint that keeps her character convincing and our sympathy with her.

    The whole thing might be a bit of an oddity, but it’s good. In every respect the quality is there.  But personally I’m more interested in cinema than theater.