- Starring
- Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland
- Writer
- Rebecca Hall
- Director
- Rebecca Hall
- Rating
- n/a
- Running Time
- 98 minutes
- Release Date
- n/a
Overall Score
Rating Summary
This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Sundance Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.
For many, Passing was one of the most anticipated films at this year’s festival. Based on the book of the same name, the film stars Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga who deliver powerhouse performances as a pair of women named Irene and Claire and is the directorial debut of famed actress Rebecca Hall. The film was anticipated by many to be the festival’s biggest Oscar push while being one of the first titles to immediately sell out (It was later acquired by Netflix for $16 million). Was all that hype worth it? Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
That being said, this doesn’t mean that Passing didn’t have anything going for it. On an aesthetic level, it is one of the best-looking films of this year’s festival and seeing this cinematography on a big screen would surely have given it a major boost while the rounded edges in the aspect ratio were a nice touch. However, the slow burn nature of the narrative is certainly one of the films biggest crutches. Though there’s definitely a lot going on here, it was difficult to remain engaged on a deeper emotional level. The film may be very well done but it’s hard to not feel anything other than indifference towards it.
While Passing is certainly worth the watch and should improve following a rewatch, the lasting impact wasn’t quite there.
still courtesy of Sundance
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