November 3, 2023
FILM: RUSTIN
DIRECTED BY: GEORGE C. WOLFE
STARRING: COLMAN DOMINGO, CHRIS ROCK, GLYNN TURMAN
RATING: 2 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Bayard Rustin is an historical figure who many of us have little to no knowledge of yet he instrumentally orchestrated Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington in 1963. What’s more, Rustin was a gay man dealing with homophobia and an inability to maintain a solid relationship during this significant period in his life. As directed by George C. Wolfe, the film Rustin, starring Colman Domingo in the title role, attempts to bring his forgotten contributions to the civil rights movement to light. Too bad much of it lands over the top to allow us to feel any real deep connection to the man at the heart of it all. Who Rustin really was isn’t given nearly enough attention.
The screenplay was written by Julian Breece and Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black (Milk.) It feels as if their primary interest was to take this work to the stage with Wolfe directing than to make it come alive as a film. Here’s why: as inspiring as this story is, the dialogue feels very much like it was written to be performed at full throttle with words that theatrically pontificate rather than genuinely express what these characters believed. Similarly, the performances are mostly over the top and that includes Oscar nominated Domingo and other major actors such as Chris Rock as Roy Wilkins and Jeffrey Wright, as Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. They’re not bad in their roles just lacking in any soulful connection to the characters. Sadly, even the portrayal of Martin Luther King by Aml Ameen doesn’t do the great leader justice. He comes across as bland and far from charismatic, at least until his big speech in Washington. Rustin has significantly more personality than King does here. For all of this I partially blame Wolfe, who is quite a seasoned Broadway director, for pushing his actors to over or under play their roles. But I also go back to Breece and Black for writing a script that is created by the numbers and meant to charge the audience up rather than provide any real understanding of the characters as multi-faceted people.
Of course, the fact that we even get a depiction of a gay man in a highly pivotal role in American history is something to applaud all involved with the film. These types of figures are rarely mentioned or highlighted within our culture. Since he does have to keep his homosexuality mostly outside his work though unfortunately contributes to the sweeping away of any deeper understanding of who Rustin was as a man. This is something that Black mastered quite effectively with his Oscar-winning script based on the life of Harvey Milk but seemed to shy away from here.
Unevenly, Wolfe provides actual archival footage from the 1963 March. Put in contrast to the other recreated scenes which make up most of this film calls attention to the falseness and stagey feel of much of the production. I’d love to see a solidly produced documentary on Rustin featuring more of this archival footage. As is though, the period is very well re-constructed with sets, costumes, and cars effectively depicting the early 1960s.
Rustin was executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama who clearly wanted this inspiring story to be known by Americans. Other major names associated with the film include Lenny Kravitz who contributes an Oscar-worthy song over the closing credits, Road to Freedom. Tony winner Audra McDonald plays Ella Baker and the very entertaining Da’Vine Joy Randolph beautifully inhabits the role of Mahalia Jackson.
This isn’t a bad film by any stretch it just felt to me a bit too much like a production in need of deeper and more fully realized characters and less stagey dialogue.
Rustin opens this week in limited release. It will be available to stream on Netflix beginning November 17th.
FILM: RUSTIN
DIRECTED BY: GEORGE C. WOLFE
STARRING: COLMAN DOMINGO, CHRIS ROCK, GLYNN TURMAN
RATING: 2 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Bayard Rustin is an historical figure who many of us have little to no knowledge of yet he instrumentally orchestrated Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington in 1963. What’s more, Rustin was a gay man dealing with homophobia and an inability to maintain a solid relationship during this significant period in his life. As directed by George C. Wolfe, the film Rustin, starring Colman Domingo in the title role, attempts to bring his forgotten contributions to the civil rights movement to light. Too bad much of it lands over the top to allow us to feel any real deep connection to the man at the heart of it all. Who Rustin really was isn’t given nearly enough attention.
The screenplay was written by Julian Breece and Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black (Milk.) It feels as if their primary interest was to take this work to the stage with Wolfe directing than to make it come alive as a film. Here’s why: as inspiring as this story is, the dialogue feels very much like it was written to be performed at full throttle with words that theatrically pontificate rather than genuinely express what these characters believed. Similarly, the performances are mostly over the top and that includes Oscar nominated Domingo and other major actors such as Chris Rock as Roy Wilkins and Jeffrey Wright, as Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. They’re not bad in their roles just lacking in any soulful connection to the characters. Sadly, even the portrayal of Martin Luther King by Aml Ameen doesn’t do the great leader justice. He comes across as bland and far from charismatic, at least until his big speech in Washington. Rustin has significantly more personality than King does here. For all of this I partially blame Wolfe, who is quite a seasoned Broadway director, for pushing his actors to over or under play their roles. But I also go back to Breece and Black for writing a script that is created by the numbers and meant to charge the audience up rather than provide any real understanding of the characters as multi-faceted people.
Of course, the fact that we even get a depiction of a gay man in a highly pivotal role in American history is something to applaud all involved with the film. These types of figures are rarely mentioned or highlighted within our culture. Since he does have to keep his homosexuality mostly outside his work though unfortunately contributes to the sweeping away of any deeper understanding of who Rustin was as a man. This is something that Black mastered quite effectively with his Oscar-winning script based on the life of Harvey Milk but seemed to shy away from here.
Unevenly, Wolfe provides actual archival footage from the 1963 March. Put in contrast to the other recreated scenes which make up most of this film calls attention to the falseness and stagey feel of much of the production. I’d love to see a solidly produced documentary on Rustin featuring more of this archival footage. As is though, the period is very well re-constructed with sets, costumes, and cars effectively depicting the early 1960s.
Rustin was executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama who clearly wanted this inspiring story to be known by Americans. Other major names associated with the film include Lenny Kravitz who contributes an Oscar-worthy song over the closing credits, Road to Freedom. Tony winner Audra McDonald plays Ella Baker and the very entertaining Da’Vine Joy Randolph beautifully inhabits the role of Mahalia Jackson.
This isn’t a bad film by any stretch it just felt to me a bit too much like a production in need of deeper and more fully realized characters and less stagey dialogue.
Rustin opens this week in limited release. It will be available to stream on Netflix beginning November 17th.