Passing

Passing is one of the must-see films of 2021, one that will stay in your mind well after the credits have begun to roll.

Much of "Passing" could be a stage play: people talking in confined spaces, the confinement figurative as well as literal. It's a chamber drama bearing the weight of several centuries.

Hall breathes life and light into it in a way that lends a weight of beauty and honesty to its immersion into a world of purposeful pretense.

Ruth Negga shines in Rebecca Hall's adaptation of the Nella Larsen novel.

This film is nothing short of masterful.

Negga is altogether extraordinary, a sort of human mirage of aspirational perfection and psychological delusion, shimmering with warmth and mischief and sex.

Hall and Thompson create a complex portrait of a woman who is a mystery to herself, prefers to enforce rigid class, sexual, racial and gender norms yet flouts them when repercussions seem to be minimal.

It's full of terrific performances, especially from Thompson and Negga, and its eloquent atmosphere makes it one of the most visually and audibly pleasing entries of the year.

Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga carry the plot forward with charm and elegance, as does everyone else in the cast, but these two share such remarkable chemistry that I feel that the slow pacing was actually quite adequate.

The performances are alluring and emotionally resonated on screen. Hall makes a stand-out debut with Passing and its impact and thoughtful.