TV Review - Native Son (2019)

Richard Wright's 1940 novel Native Son was known as a social protest novel, which is a work of fiction in literature that dramatizes a social problem like poverty or prejudice through its effects on the characters in the narrative. Wright's novel tackled both the issues of poverty and prejudice to show how they contributed to a black man committing a horrendous crime. Arguably, the novel was not intended to justify such a crime, but to show how such crimes don't originate out of nowhere or are inherent in certain people. Wright sought to show how such conditions as poverty and prejudice are factors to be considered in such acts. His goal was to expose a systemic oppression that was particularly pressing down on black people, specifically black men.

Seventy years later, some people would argue that what Wright was protesting in his social protest novel are still relevant today. This perhaps explains why screenwriter Suzan-Lani Parks (Their Eyes Were Watching God) has set this adaptation of Wright's novel seventy years later from when it was originally set. Parks has made other changes to update or modernize Wright's story for today's audiences. Those changes alter the dynamics that Wright originally established in his novel. Parks also changes the structure of Wright's novel, distorting the events of the novel, putting more weight onto certain things, while bypassing other things and completely coming up with a different ending than the book.

These changes from Parks unfortunately undermine the point that I think she's trying to make, which is supposed to be parallel or synonymous to Wright's original point. The first change is the time period. Instead of being set before the Civil Rights Movement and even before World War II, this movie is set in the second decade of the 21st century. The racial tension and systemic oppression aren't the same as they were. There are perhaps pockets within certain urban areas either in Chicago or elsewhere that might not sense that the 21st century is upon us, and I can't be sure if Parks' script is reflective of those pockets, but from a visual standpoint, I'm not convinced that the characters here are in such a pocket.

Ashton Sanders (Moonlight and The Equalizer 2) stars as Bigger Thomas, a 20-year-old living in Chicago with his single mother. He's one of three children in a tiny apartment, possibly in housing projects. He's supposed to be living in poverty, as evidenced by the fact that he has to kill a rat that has gotten into the dining area. However, the idea of this family in poverty doesn't really come across all that much. Bigger has green hair. He wears a leather jacket. He likes heavy metal and classical music. He speaks very intelligently and in fact intellectually. He hangs out with his friend Gus who has a car and smokes weed. His mom later has a kind of boyfriend who appears to be well off and even is the one who recommends a good job with a wealthy white guy, so we don't feel the oppression he's supposed to feel.

Director Rashid Johnson is a conceptual artist and this is his feature debut. Johnson certainly does a good job of making this film look great. He takes care for every shot and sequence, as well as doing what he can to craft compelling images and visuals that capture the performances powerfully, specifically from Sanders who demonstrates why other than Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris, if one could pull another actor from the cast of Moonlight to spotlight, it would and should have been Sanders. This film and Johnson's direction allow for Sanders to have the space to breath life into his character. The writing though is very limiting.

In terms of the structure, the novel is divided into three sections, which almost make it perfect for adapting into a film. Yet, Parks distorts that structure and there is good reason why but the power of Wright's original point gets lost, which throws into question why adapt this novel if you're going to lose its point. For starters, what Wright has as his opening salvo becomes a second act twist here. Parks seemingly wants to make the film akin to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). The twist here is almost the same as the one in that Hitchcock thriller.

Yet, the movie rushes through the third act and doesn't really allow the movie to deal with or face the implications of that twist. Because the twist happens so early in the book, the book has the better part of its length, two-thirds of which, to explore the aftermath of the twist. Here, this film only has half that time relatively to explore the aftermath, which feels like only a half hour or so. This movie just doesn't feel like it has enough time to explore that aftermath.

Bill Camp (The Night Of and The Looming Tower) costars as Henry Dalton, a wealthy white man who hires Bigger to be his chauffeur and his family's chauffeur, specifically for his blind wife, played by Elizabeth Marvel (Homeland and House of Cards), and his daughter named Mary Dalton, played by Margaret Qualley (Novitiate and The Leftovers). Nick Robinson (Love, Simon and Jurassic World) also co-stars as Jan Erlone, the boyfriend to Mary and a political activist.

Bigger's relationship with Henry Dalton and Jan Erlone in particular are tested in the aftermath of the twist. His relationships with those two white people bring out a lot of the themes and issues that Wright was developing in his novel. Unfortunately, those relationships are given such short shrift here in this film. Henry disappears in the third act of this movie and Jan has one scene with Bigger, which isn't enough to understand the nuances and intricacies between these two in the wake of the twist.

Other than Psycho, another film that came to mind is The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). There is a similar kind of twist in that film as there is here. The twist happens early enough or at least the aftermath is long enough that we not only feel the thriller more but we get more time to explore the themes and issues that were inherent in that adaptation's novel. This movie simply doesn't give us that same kind of time.

Rated TV-MA-LV.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 44 mins.

Available on HBO.