Review: Beneath the Bombast, ‘Fences’ Has an Aching Poetry

I absolutely loved Fences and still watch it on TV. Great performances.

I was mesmerized by Viola Davis' scene after finding out about the child her husband would have from an affair. She was stunning in that scene and it was Oscar worthy!

Apart from stellar performances by Washington, Davis and the entire cast, the movie was cringe-worthy in parts notwithstanding its emotional power because the writing descended too often into stereotyping of black culture, and we're all too politically correct to call it out. See how the black man jives when he interacts with his peers, engaging in ebonics, isn't it real, isn't it poetic!

After waiting and waiting for Fences to come to Mexico City, I rented it on iTunes on this cold, rainy evening. I snuggled into bed with a glass of wine and a grilled cheese to watch what I knew would be an excellent movie... how could it not be? Now Troy has just delivered his news to Rose and it feels like a punch in the gut. It's sublime, this movie, even more powerful than I expected, and done just right.

The New York Times review perfectly understands the grandeur of August Wilson's best-known play, Fences. The author was slightly short-sighted regarding his own work. He never permitted a film version because the director had to necessarily be black. This means he claimed his chef d'oeuvre to be basically racial. Far from it, Fences is profoundly universal. It could well be called Fatherhood, with all the troubles that come with it. It enters into the root problem of humanity, the struggle for survival.
Troy Maxson continuously tries to impart the dangers of society. But are they exclusive to a single sector? We have placed our problems in boxes. Being black, a woman, an immigrant, a child, anything, to explain what cannot be explained. Why are we humanly stuck in the Genesis? Why are Cain and Abel's troubles still alive? Why haven't we evolved sufficiently, in spite of the help of a modern occidental state, and still persist in being envious, avaricious, selfish, excluding and cruel, terribly cruel with others simply due to their otherness.
Is Troy Maxson a terrible patriarch, a heartless father? Quite the contrary. He simply wishes to warn his family of how dangerous society is. We are warned.

A moving, outstanding film about real people. Denzel Washington did a beautiful job directing, and should have won the Best Actor Oscar, but at least Viola Davis got hers. The entire cast was excellent, as was the drama itself. With all the distractions in our lives, I hope people make the time and space to see and contemplate this one.

An extraordinary film; every performance is amazing. I hope it wins several Oscars, it deserves them.

5am, could not sleep.

iPhone at bedside. (big mistake!)

Happened on this review and these very thoughtful, smart comments.

All as thought provoking, jarring, sad, uplifting, engaging, enraging, expansive and desperately confining as life itself, particularly one black family's life with its fences imposed harshly from without and, tragically, from within.

Saw the NYC production and this film.
I'll simply say it moved me and opened me to the reality of this family in a personal and political way, forcing the viewer to smash all the fences we build around our preconceptions and pre-judgements and between our own understanding of each other.

All because of the humanity and genius and craft of August Wilson.

This film does that genius great justice.

It's 5:37 am and I'm wide awake.

Maybe it's just me being conscious regarding voice performers but I felt that both Mr. Washington and Ms. Davis took a bit of the intensity and rhythm out of their longest speeches particularly near the end of the film.
My favorite Denzel movie remains "Devil in A Blue Dress".

This film is quite a tour de force, for all the reasons Scott admirably notes. The writing was brilliant and so too the acting. While I'm usually not a fan of faithful adaptations, I think this one was right on the mark. There's too much going on psychologically, philosophically, and verbally to allow for a more cinematic presentation. Bringing in extradiegetic sound and music, location changes, more sets, fancy edits, self-conscious camera angles, etc. would just have distracted from the quality of the performance and writing, or worse, turned the whole thing into a schaum torte of a film, too rich to digest. In the end what most struck me was that Washington created an exemplar of particular universalism, which is to say a film that explored a specific moment, race, class, situation, but also simultaneously explored situations and questions that many humans are likely to face at some point in their lives.

As Captain Beef heart once penned...."eyes watered in appreciation...."

I've been attempting to see what I knew were likely to be the Oscar-nominated Best Picture films over the past several weeks: Lion, Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea, LaLa Land, etc. I liked them all very much.

And then I saw Fences. An incredible film. My new favorite. The acting performances -- particularly Mr. Washington's -- were extraordinary, memorable and deeply impacting. This is a film for the ages, one that keeps you on the edge of your seat, hoping for the best for all of the characters. The ending is quietly devastating, heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. August Wilson's words are devastating poetry, with messages of hard truths and an indomitable spirit that infiltrate the story line. We in the audience in the theatre I was at enthusiastically clapped through our tears at the movie's end. How often does that happen?

Congrats to Mr. Washington, Ms. Davis and all of the incredible supporting actors. I will be cheering you all on, as well as the film, for the big, well-deserved prizes on Oscar night.

Run, don't walk to see this movie!

If Denzel doesn't walk away with the Oscar something is radically wrong.

I just saw this. I am now sure why but I wept for about 20 minutes afterwards. I think because this portrayed some intractable inevitability of humanity. Alpha male. Female desire of Alpha. Associated disrespect. Childs choice, fight of be destroyed. The opportunism. The complexity. The ultimate futility.

A fine piece of work and a superb Denzel and Viola in particular.

August Wilson was born in Pittsburgh in 1945.

Nine of his ten plays are set in Pittsburgh (specifically, in its major black neighborhood, the famed Hill District, aka "Little Harlem").

The play "Fences" is set in Pittsburgh.

The movie version was made in Pittsburgh.

The movie makes it clear to the audience that it's Pittsburgh.

Yet somehow, A.O. Scott and the NYT editors didn't notice this Pittsburgh connection, or didn't think it was relevant, because the word "Pittsburgh" was not in Scott's review. Not once.

Here in Flyover Country, we are wondering if this was a cultural slight or merely an example of sloppy journalism.

Just saw this movie. Mr Washington is a national treasure. He had me on the end of my seat the whole time. My gut is still on edge. What a character study and what a performance.

This play is so specific and yet so universal. You see Death of a Salesman. Not long into this film I turned to my mother -- the daughter of an Irish immigrant father -- and whispered "so Irish." She nodded.
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I look forward to seeing all of Wilson's plays, onscreen and onstage. And please, Hollywood-- keep Ms. Davis in theaters. What a singular talent.

A.O. Scott's reviews of Moonlight and now Fences truly shine - not because his writing slices and dices the films' messages 19 ways until Sunday, but because he artfully shows the meaning, the grit and the almost unbearably touching tenderness in both films.

Bravo and thank you.

My wife and I saw this film a couple of weeks ago. An intimate theatrical study in character, with a handful of personalities and sparse setting that breaks through into a wide-ranging panorama of black experience in America - the Great Migration in the background, high aspirations met with prejudice but enough fulfillment to survive on, struggle and family. Ultimately, it transcends racial boundaries and addresses the universal human condition. The parallel that occurred to me was with "Driving Miss Daisy," another film with a small cast and theatrical approach to a particular set of social and personal realities. If "Fences" doesn't also win multiple Oscars, we should cry foul! I haven't seen "La La Land," but it seems to me that the awards won by that undoubtedly fine movie are in a solipsistic vein. Open your minds, Hollywood!

Fences is one of the best movies i've seen in a while. It's not an action film, but it is, to the ear. The words and emotion that come from Denzel are so intense.

The audience I saw it with applauded. That's not as usual as it once was.

I saw this film in Brooklyn at a theater that I have been going to for twenty years.
This particular movie house has an extremely upscale audience that at times can seem jaded at best! Never have I witnessed applause at the end of a film - FENCES got applause that it so richly deserved! I strongly believe that race has everything to do with the reason this film has not been given the strong award consideration others films this season have been receiving - and I've seen those films that are getting the awards and Oscar buzz this movie is not getting! Mr. Washington's performance is a tour de force and his direction is flawless. The poetry of Wilson's dialogue is pure genius! Artistry should eclipse popularity - FENCES is a major artistic achievement that will probably be overlooked come Oscar time. However, I do predict Viola Davis will be nominated for an Academy Award in the supporting category, as will Washington for best actor, but she will win!

An absolutely exquisite film.

How how is it that there's not major awards buzz for this film, surely one of 2016's best? Denzel gives the performance of a lifetime, which is saying a lot given the fine work he's already accomplished on screen. His chemistry with his onscreen wife, played by Viola Davis with quiet resolve, is a marvel. There's a top notch supporting cast as well, and lustrous pearls come out of the mouths of each character, given original life by August Wilson. It's real, raw invigorating, uplifting, poignant and inspiring, not to be missed.

I'll take A.O. Scott's word for it that "Fences" is a great movie version of August Wilson's play, but how is it possible that he never found time to even mention where the drama is set -- Pittsburgh. (For those New Yorkers jetting to LA, Pittsburgh (PITTS-burgh) is located on the other side of the Hudson somewhere in far western Pennsylvania.) Specifically, "Fences," and nine of Wilson's ten plays, were set in Pittsburgh's Hill District, where Wilson grew up. Denzel Washington's movie version, shot in the streets of Pittsburgh, made it clear "Fences" was set in Pittsburgh in 1957. The Hill District neighborhood was once one of the country's most important black neighborhoods. In 1950 it was a poor, dense, beat-up but commercially vibrant, integrated urban neighborhood for 50,000 people, 80 percent black. It was nationally known for its jazz clubs and nightlife. The influential Pittsburgh Courier was the largest black paper in the country through the 1940s. Pittsburgh also had two Negro League baseball teams. August Wilson's ten plays -- like photojournalist Teenie Harris' thousands of b&w photos for the Courier -- immortalized the lives of the everyday black working people who lived on the Hill in Pittsburgh. Denzel's will continue to do so with his film versions of Wilson's plays. Maybe next time one of them is reviewed in the Times, the word Pittsburgh can be included. And oh yeah, the Hill District's nickname was "Little Harlem" -- whatever that refers to.

Many people will have their preferences regarding stage plays vs cinema and whether the two may coexist. That debate aside, Denzel Washington's commitment to acting is astonishing. Let us remember that he was the lead in The Magnificent 7 just a few months prior. This man's depth and range is incredible. The literary devices associated with the dialogue is mind blowing. Ladies and gentlemen, Viola Davis should be the most sought after actress. Her portrayal of Rose is stellar. However, the glue to the film in my opinion is the performance by Mykelti Williamson as Gabe. This film is deep! A must see!

When Gabriel blows his horn to open the hovering dark cloud for light in the final minutes of this great play and now superb film...I remember how "In the beginning was the word...and the word was with God." "Fences" is an experience of words, and poetry, and the drama of humans and humanity, for all time...and the performances in this newest round... are down-to-earth holy. Brava.

I was fortunate enough to see Denzel and Viola's performance on Broadway and felt they did a fine job. I wasn't all that moved and felt that The Penumbra Theatre in Minneapolis presented Mr. Wilson's work in a much better light. In movie though, it is Viola's performance that took my breath away. Even her hand gestures were true to Rose's story. While August Wilson wasn't particularly comfortable writing in a woman's voice, Viola does a masterful job at giving Rose incredible depth and dimension despite her supporting character role. And the winner for best actress in a drama is ... Ms. Davis.

I have mixed feelings about "Fences" after seeing it on screen last night. I loved watching Denzel Washinton's virtual one-man show for the first 20 minutes, was engrossed by his stage presence for another 20 and grew to hate the man by the end. It takes a great actor to achieve those results. But I do not think it transfers well from stage to screen. This was film, not stage; there was no need to cram five hours of nonstop rapid-fire talking, yelling, cursing, ranting into two hours 18 minutes, all within a very tightly controlled space, which I realize was the intent. The one flaw I saw in both the writing and Washington's portrayal is that it is too one-dimensional; even the most manic personalities need some downtime occasionally.

I have known a number of damaged walking egos, white and black, who browbeat their loved ones the same way, abusing all around them from one and passing their anger on from one generation to the next. But the flip side of their personalities, depression, always surfaced after a particularly manic marathon. Not here, though.

The most interesting character to me was not Washington but Viola Davis, who conveyed more in a subtle performance as Rose than Washington's Troy did with all his screen-hogging energy.

See this film! I would not normally expect a play to translate well to film, but Denzel Washington and Viola Davis (and the beautifully lit & framed cinematography) give August Wilson his due.

This IS the American story: universal in its honesty — we bring complicated selves to our intimate relationships — but also a frank illustration of the brutal hand of racism in the destruction of even a strong soul. Wilson writes his characters with such depth, the audience will recognize Troy unintentionally reproducing his own losses while intending to protect and teach his sons. "Fences" is the story of multi-generational trauma that racism visits on a family—and its enduring effect.

Definitely a film not to be missed, it will hopefully also introduce the next generation to August Wilson, our great American playwright. He writes the lives of everyday people and it is a pleasure to see them on the stage and screen.

A tough movie to watch. Like a train wreck. Denzel portrays the pain of Troy's tortured life so well. This film is a reminder of how brutal life can be; especially for a black man. Nothing really that essential has changed in America since the 1950's of the movie in regards to racism and the effects of its walling off a entire race of people over something as irrelevant as skin color. How in Gods' name did life ever come to this? How stupid and unevolved is mankind? These thoughts were in my head upon leaving the theater. I recently also saw the movie "Loving" and had the same thoughts occurring. God played a significant role in this film. The only way out is up. How sad that we have moved so slowly over these thousands of years. How miraculous it is that we can be so cruel and so stupid and still survive. Maybe Darwin had it backward.