This is not the typical politically correct Oscar bait you would think it is. In the
last years, more and more films got released which chose their topics simply to win as many awards as possible. Whether it was women, rape, racism – all these are topics which deserve all the
attention and action of the world. But more and more filmmakers made very mediocre productions about them which were clearly only there to make money and to get recognised by the award juries.
Especially 2020, this was the case for way too many films – only Judas and
the Black Messiah stood out as the only truly honest film in my eyes. I
thought that Passing would be one of the mediocre Oscar bait films. But it turns out that it's not – Rebecca
Hall's Passing is different. It handles the story of Ruth Negga's character who 'passed' to living as a
white person in a very intelligent, complex and adequate way. But what's interesting is that this is by far not the main topic of the film. Basically, this film tells the classic story about an
unwanted invader into what was before a relatively peaceful and stable life. In this case, Ruth Negga is the invader and the astonishing Thessa Thompson the person who before had a stable life.
But director Rebecca Hall doesn't tell the story in the typical way- she makes this a film about suppresion. Suppressed Afro-Americans, suppressed women, suppressed communication, suppressed
(homo- as well as heterosexual) love, suppressed parties, suppressed consume of alcohol, and most of all suppressed feelings. This is a film about a woman who slowly loses control of her life,
but as she lives in times in which everything is much more suppressed than it is today – often only by social norms, not even directly -, she can't do anything against it.
Hall finds just the right visual language to express this: the film is shot in a very
calm, unexcited and 'steady' way, in a very fitting Black&White – especially if you consider the topic about passing from Black to White. I read in some other review that the film is too
stiff and that it never truly comes alive. I see this very differently - in my eyes, this was deliberately chosen to underline the small spaces in which the characters are moving. To show the
suppression of feelings and communication on a visual level. Every image of Passing is carefully chosen and intentionally framed. Whether it's a shot of the back of a person
or the reappearing, very meaningful shots of the crack on the ceiling which becomes bigger and bigger.
The greatest aspect of Hall's film though is the end, in which she answers what such
a situation can turn into when there's no way to talk about it or no other way to escape it. Without any great showdown, without any judgement or any dramatic music does this film end with a
scene which makes you sit even long after the credits and think about it. Passing has a very different vibe to it and doesn't match the typical film which gets released in
Oscar season. Even if this won't win any of the big awards, this will remain one of the best directional debuts of a female director and one of the best works of 2021. An extremely interesting
film you shouldn't miss under any circumstances.
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