WIDOWS: A Seamless Combination of Popcorn Entertainment and Gritty Drama

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Produced by: Emile Sherman, Arnon Milchan, Iain Canning, Steve McQueen

Directed by: Steve McQueen

Written by: Gillian Flynn, Steve McQueen

Production Company: 20th Century Fox

Starring: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Jacki Weaver, Robert Duvall, Liam Neeson 

Runtime: 128 minutes                                

SYNOPSIS: 

 

After a heist gone wrong culminated in the death of their husbands (Liam Neeson, Jon Bernthal, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Coburn Goss), it is now up to their wives (Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Erivo) to clean up the mess they’ve left behind. 

REVIEW: 

There is no denying Steve McQueen’s talent behind the camera. But there is also no denying that the British director isn’t exactly the first name that pops into moviegoers’ minds when it comes to mainstream filmmaking. Financially, his most recent work 12 Years a Slave (2013) was a mainstream success, making $ 187.7 million worldwide, ten times its modest $ 20-22 million budget. At the same time, 12 Years a Slave is one of those films whose financial success benefits heavily from a strong award season campaign, one that yields an Oscar win for Best Picture in 2014. Some may argue that 12 Years a Slave would not have been as successful in the box office without that award season run.

McQueen’s films’ reliance on award buzz sort of typifies his career so far, a director who is essentially box office gamble through his choice of only making topical indie drama. His films often delve into heady, thought-provoking themes like the 1981 Irish hunger strike in Hunger (2008), sexual addiction in the NC-17 rated Shame (2011) and lastly, 19^th century slavery in 12 Years a Slave (2013). Safe to say, these aren’t exactly the sold-out crowd-type films.  If there is any chance the Steve McQueen name will ever have the sold-out crowd appeal, it is through 2018’s Widows. A cinematic adaptation of the similarly named British television series that ran on ITV from 1983 to 1985, Widows’ idea of four women pulling off a heist sound more sexy and audience-friendly than McQueen’s previous work.  Not to mention the star-studded cast in both the starring and supporting role. And so, Widows might just be proof whether Steve McQueen is solely a critical darling or both the critical and audience darling. 

But then again, it is hard to separate the indie sensibilities from an indie soul like Steve McQueen. He is definitely the kind of director who wouldn’t sacrifice his challenging vision for the humdrums of studio-approved filmmaking. And perhaps, that is why Widows fail to connect with a wider audience. As much as it is another critical darling for McQueen (evident from its 91% rating in Rotten Tomatoes), the general audience are more divided about the film (evident from its 62% audience score). Not to mention the fact it struggled to make itself relevant at the box office. 

At the end of the day, the audience is allowed to have their own opinions, but it is hard to argue that Steve McQueen is a director who always tries to make sure his work has more meaning than just mere entertainment. Given a popcorn premise of Widows kind, he injects the project with the type of dramatic flair and realism that other filmmakers never dared to even consider. And that’s really what distinguishes Widows from other films of the heist genre. 

After all, there is a reason why the film itself is called Widows rather than something like Thieves or something along that line, beyond the fact that its source material has the same title. The so-called heist and the planning of the heist itself occupy only a small fraction of the runtime. In fact, it’s more interested in looking at these characters’ lives outside the heist. It spends very little time exploring the typical heist themes like money or payback, and instead, veers more into dramatic territories like grief and the emotional impact that comes with it. 

And that in a way helps flesh the four lead characters out. McQueen and Gillian Flynn’s screenplay manages to conjure such intriguing, relatable characters through its team of overnight criminals by simply imbuing them with human struggles. Stealing is a big deal, but it is not as big as the things they have to go through in their personal lives. 

It is a film that realistically portrays the common struggles of being a widow: having to learn to depend on one’s self, having to learn to raise their children without a father figure or, in the case of Michelle Rodriguez’ character Linda’s dysfunctional relationship with her mother-in-law, having to learn to live through life with that feeling of survivor’s guilt. Through the widows’ eyes, the film perfectly captures the various ways people respond to grief, ranging from Veronica’s (Viola Davis) stoicism, Alice’s (Elizabeth Debicki) vulnerability, and Linda’s desperation. Some of the emotions might come off as subtle, and some might come off as sappy and sentimental, but it overall explores a feminist perspective of grief in such a well-rounded fashion that makes it a whole lot easier to identify with not necessarily all, but at least one of the characters on a personal level.  

Despite its fairly bleak tone, there is a brightness to glean on in Widows with its empowering perspective on how women should deal with grief. Coming at the height of the #MeToo movement, it is a film that embodies everything that the aforementioned hash tag represents: women finally taking control of their lives. Sure, the pressure of being forced to pay a huge debt to a person their deceased husbands wronged adds more urgency to their plight. Typical of the heist genre, there is part of the characters’ motivation that is money and revenge-driven.  Then again, it is not the typical heist themes that stood out about the heist in this film. 

As subtle of a subtext as it may be, it is its use of heist as a metaphor for women trying to prove that they’re better than the men. The film’s intentional black and white perspective of male and female further supports such metaphor. Female characters are easily the good guys, characters who are so beaten down yet strong in their willingness to take the punches and keep moving forward, while the men are easily the soap opera bad guys, characters people wish they could just grab their ears and twist them in punishment for treating the women harshly or in their husbands’ case, for leaving them in a bad place to begin with. It’s a message that’s delivered so effectively and consistently throughout the film that it’s really hard not to pull for the women to come out on top come the end. 

Amidst the human drama, there is some popcorn entertainment to be had with Widows in regards to its heist/action sequence. Widows is another example of style and substance seamlessly blending onscreen. Despite McQueen’s indie background, it seems like the director’s documentarian approach is suited to mainstream action movie filmmaking. There is an emphasis on long tracking shots, especially during most of the heist sequences that give them more sense of movement and energy. At the same time, McQueen is also a director who knows how to make an audience feel something deeper during the heist/action sequences. 

And the film’s ability to shift from adrenaline-pumping action to compelling drama without them seeming too jarring is plain to see through the slick editing in its opening sequence, which lurches from the widows’ romantic moments with their husbands to an exciting chase sequence between police cars and a van that ends with their husbands’ demise. The drastic transition between tones might have been distracting in other films, but not here. From the off, it gives a stronger reason to sympathize with the characters, particularly the widows. 

Beyond the technical prowess, the screenplay should be credited for its fresh take on heist movie characters. So often, a cliché in the heist film is its necessity to have a main character or two that are professional thieves or an expert in gadgetry or in anything its variation. Widows decides to change things up by putting inexperienced thieves as its main characters. And making the characters experienced or inexperienced is really the difference between a movie character that feels like nothing more than a movie character and a movie character that feels like a real-life person. Widows’ lead characters feel like real-life people. 

For the regular people, the whole heist situation should feel new to them. Nothing ever goes smooth at the first try. Being better at anything new, even being a thief, is a learning process. And in real life, there is no gadgetry to save people at last minute. So often, they have to rely on the limited supply at their disposal and their smarts to get out of situations. In the end, characters making poor judgments are normal in Widows. In fact, it’s their proneness to mistakes which makes the more human. On an entertainment standpoint, it adds a lot of humor and realism to the proceedings, particularly in small character moments like when Alice messes up by bidding excessively for a van. That scene is meant to offer a brief laugh from the whole seriousness, but it’s the type of humor that’s inserted so naturally that makes the characters behind the heist more interesting.  

As for flaws, Widows puts so much focus on its female characters that by default, it puts a lot of the character development in its men to the sideline. It is a film that asks its audience to look at the male characters present and feel about them in strictly feminist way. What the audience see and feel about the male characters should be the same with what the female characters are seeing and feeling. However, there is also the unfortunate case where some male characters serve little to no purpose to the narrative. 

And that is what happened with Colin Farrell’s politician character Jack Mulligan. As the widows are busy planning their heist, the film often cuts back to a subplot involving two politicians Jack Mulligan and Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry) competing for an upcoming election. McQueen is always a director who prides on social commentary, and his boldness in using a popcorn premise to touch on politics should not go unnoticed. McQueen actually has something deeper to say with its politicians characters. Corruption in politics isn’t a strange phenomenon in the real world, and, through every character’s conversation and the way they see people as mere chess pieces they can just move about freely, it is something the film is very aware of and something that is very discernible in real-life. 

Whether it has a place in the narrative and whether Colin Farrell should have had as much screen time as he had in the film are big question marks.  A second act twist finally gives Farrell’s character a reason to exist in the narrative, but it is a twist that doesn’t connect as well if compared to the other elements.  

It doesn’t help that most of the acting in Farrell’s scene isn’t on the same wave length with the film’s gritty, realistic tone. In Colin Farrell’s defense though, the actor himself gives a pretty convincing performance as a corrupt politician. He reeks of dirtiness and malicious intent every time he’s on frame. The problem here is the actor that’s interacting with him. 

Robert Duvall, a legendary actor without a doubt, spends most of his screen time with Farrell as Jack’s father Tom Mulligan, and his over-the-top, Shakespearean acting feels distant from the world McQueen is setting up. Save for a couple lines, Duvall somehow feels it’s necessary for the character to scream his every line. And it happens not only once, but several times to the point that it becomes a bit bothersome. Every time Widows succeed in maintaining a serious tone, Duvall often pops up with the film’s unintentional bursts of unnecessary hilarity. 

Questionable male acting aside, Widows offers the finest in female acting in 2018. And it’s an empowering moment in the theaters to see four lead actresses in Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Erivo come together and bond in such a tightly-knit manner. Some of the film’s highlights are when these characters converge in a hideout, the many confrontations and the many times they connect and attempt to work their way through their domestic issues. It’s these character moments that make the audience fall in love with these characters. But, even as individuals, each of them builds a strong case for award contention.  

Viola Davis once again showcases her Oscar credentials with a restrained and powerful performance. Her character Veronica Rawlings requires a strong presence, an actress who can just stand, stare deep into the characters’ eyes or at the camera and penetrate through them in an emotional level. No actress does those things better than Viola Davis herself. Save for a few scenes of emotional outbursts, her character does hold back quite a lot. Davis’ restraint succeeds in selling the idea of a woman who doesn’t let emotion tamper with her professionalism, and it makes sense why she is the gang’s leader. But that doesn’t by any means render her performance emotionless. Davis manages to instill so much dramatic depth even in the most stoic of characters. She is the film’s most tragic character, in the sense that tragedy has become something common in her life.  By then, she has lost any idea on how best to response to those tragedies. Her more emotional side of her performance reflects a woman conflicted by her feelings, presented so subtly. 

Elizabeth Debicki plays one of the widows Alice, and she provides the film with its funniest, most poignant moments. Debicki is given such an emotionally unstable character that matches her off-kilter performance. Her timing between drama and levity, moments of strength and vulnerability is impeccable. Alice isn’t exactly the brightest or the strongest of the bunch, evident in her proneness to emotional breakdown and errors. Whereas these characters’ faults are often considered the sign of a weak character, that is not the case with Alice. It’s the kind of faults that should be perceived as normal and rational in the real world. The idea of being forced to become a thief in a matter of second should be overwhelming. Debicki captures the novice-like quality of a woman overwhelmed with this new world she’s in. As is the case with great characters, they change from one point to the next, and Debicki convinces when the character transitions from the supposedly dumb character to one who is smart in her own unorthodox ways.  

It is also welcoming to see Michelle Rodriguez return to a dramatic role after Girlfight (2000). She’s used to being the supporting actress in blockbusters like Avatar (2009) and the Fast and the Furious franchise (2001- present), and so often wasted underneath the bigger names and the technical wizardry. She is there physically, but her presence as an actress just wasn’t there. That is not the case with Widows. She is just very believable in her streetwise, understated ways as Linda, a widow who has struggle with being a single mom and a sense of survivor’s guilt. 

Cynthia Erivo is undoubtedly one of the year’s major find, and she proves herself to be more than just a one-hit wonder with another strong female performance as single mom Belle.  Already early in her career, Erivo presents herself as an actress who is willing to try on different roles. Her drastic transformation from such a womanly presence in Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) to the short-haired tomboyish presence in Widows speaks a lot about her range. Her sass and humanity permeates in every frame she’s in.  She manages to stand her ground against her more experienced compatriots, especially against a behemoth like Viola Davis. 

Another praiseworthy performance that deserves attention is Daniel Kaluuya’s. He has had a phenomenal run these last few years with films like Get Out (2017) and Black Panther (2018), and he caps 2018 off with another memorable, yet against-type performance as a politician’s hitman/brother Jatemme Manning. He’s no longer playing the good guy or the morally gray character this time around. In Widows, Kaluuya’s character is the straight-up bad guy. And it is telling that the actor had fun with the role. Kaluuya is able to combine ghetto swagger and ice cold ruthlessness to turn Jatemme into one of cinema’s most menacing villains. His acting in the basketball court scene alone will sure send chills down the spine. 

CONCLUSION: 

Widows serves up a series of fresh, thrilling heist sequences throughout as well as a gritty, socially relevant drama on grief and how women use it to regain control of their lives that is well-acted, expertly-directed and sharply written. 

Score: 9/10