Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Harriet 

This is a mixed bag of a film with a strong lead performance! This film tells the story of Harriet Tubman one of the most important figures of history so when I heard that they were making a bio pic about her life I was excited because they’ve never done a bio pic on her which is shocking and after seeing the film I can say the film is ok but it’s the commuted emotional powerhouse performance from Cynthia Erivo who captures Harriet Tubman so well onscreen with just vulnerability and passion. 

Firstly, I’ll talk about the problems I had with the film. The movie’s biggest flaw was that it felt way to by the numbers and what I mean is that it felt very formulaic in its approach for a person who’s story is extraordinary I felt she deserved a better telling of her life story that what we got because it never felt like the film rises to match the extraordinary life that she led in the film don’t get me wrong the film does tell her life story but it never feels as well told onscreen as it should as the scope of the film and the films emotional beats felt very much like we’ve seen this approach to slavery bio pics before it never tries to stand out and it never invests you into any of the other people involved in the story expect for Harriet which is also due to poor character development as they don’t fully develop the other people around Harriet and you don’t find out that much about them expect that they are for or against her and that’s it which sucks because I would of liked to have known A bit more then just that which is what the film gives. They defiantly could of fleshed out their characters a lot more to give proper explanations to them and their character arcs which sadly don’t feel fully utilized.

Secondly, The positives I have with this film is the performance that Cynthia Erivo captures so perfectly onscreen as she gives an emotionally charged portrayal of Harriet Tubman and in a lot of ways saves this movie as her performance is the reason to watch this film as she chews up every scene she’s in and is totally captivating from start to finish the other actors involved are good but since you don’t find much about them they just fall by the wayside or into the background which is unfortunate so your very much invested into Erivo’s electrifying performance that was spectacular. The performance by her is really the only great thing I can praise as well as the cinematography which was actually pretty solid as well as they capture the scope and look of this picture very well. 

Lastly, Harriet was a bio pic about a historic icon that deserved a better telling of her story instead of a formulaic approach to the story which it unfortunately did but due to Cynthia Erivo’s incredible performance that she provides she is the soul reason why I will recommend checking this film out on top of the fact even though the film is a paint by numbers of Harriet’s story it still is a film that is about Harriet Tubman who’s a very important person everyone should know about and if you don’t know much about her definitely check this film out. 

This film chronicles and tells the life story of Harriet Tubman her freedom from Slavery and how she also risked her life for others to help free the slaves and became in the process one of the most important figures in history 

Rated PG - 13 : for thematic content throughout, violent material and language including racial epithets

Cynthia Erivo  : Cynthia Erivo delivers a outstanding emotional raw performance! Erivo has been impressing me for a while now as she did Widows and Bad Times At The El Royale last year which both films she had supporting roles in which she was fantastic in both but here she gets top billing as the lead of this film playing Harriet Tubman and wow does she deliver.  She plays Harriet Tubman with such a emotional rawness in her eyes and a determination of passion in her heart and it’s a fantastic as she fully embraces Harriet and she dose the best to her abilities to give the most respectful and accurate portrayal as she can. From the first frame of this film you are glued to her performance as right out the gate she she shows the pain and torture she went through emotionally and psychically that at times is hard to watch due to how she was treated and Cynthia brings a great two hander of emotional complexity as she can be very fragile and break down into a puddle of tears and have tears stream down her face and be aching in such pain and it looks so real as she is bringing so much to the screen and then she can turn it right around and show the determination and how she will not be pushed around and it’s inspiring so she has so many layers and such a massive character arc she goes on in the beginning of the film and she has some very hard hitting emotional moments that will impact you and then their are moments of sheer determination that will inspire as well and Erivo steps up to the task of taking on one of the most important figures in history and she transforms into this person as she goes as  emotionally deep as she has to in order to portray her as true as she can commits one hundred and ten percent to this film she is outstanding as when she speaks too can her the sadness in her voice and then you can hear the anger as well as she wants slavery to stop and the sheer raw passion brought by Erivo is fantastic it’s definitely one of her finest performances yet as she dose a great job at portraying Harriet Tubman she is captivating from start to finish. 

Kasi Lemmons : Kasi gives ok direction that could of been better! This filmmaker I am unfamiliar with and so she decides to direct a film about Harriet Tubman and lets start off with the issues I had with her directional take on this as the biggest issue I had was that this felt like a paint by numbers formulaic approach to one of the most important figures in history and I felt she could of done better at telling her story instead of making this film at times full of tropes I’ve seen before as she deserved so much better. Another issue I had was that the characters well the supporting characters felt non existent as they had little to non character backstory or they had no character arc whatsoever so they felt very hollow and forgettable which sucks since this is such an important story that deserves to be told and told right. The film also in some senses felt boring as since this film had such a by the numbers approach to it I never felt emotionally invested that much which really left me only impressed by the lead performance by Cynthia Erivo who is terrific here but that’s the only praise I can give this film. I get Kasi wanted to tell the story of Harriet Tubman as truthful and faithful as possible but here it falls flat and is only saved by its terrific lead performance Kasi gives ok direction that could of been way better.