Contemporary 2021 Selection: Passing (2021)

 Rebecca Hall's "Passing"


Rebecca Hall's directorial debut is a 2021 feature that has been adapted from Nella Larsen's 1929 novel of the same name. Hall employs very specific directional techniques to orchestrate a quiet, contemplative piece that stirs in its own complexity. 

The black and white approach is interesting for the subject matter. We find that our characters, on the surface, are living in a black and white world. However, as the story progresses you find that things are not black and white at all. Things are rather grey. All of the characters have very complex emotionality, and can't quite pinpoint exactly what they want out of life, except that they just want to feel safe. Also, the black and white really presents everyone's skin tone with a varying degree of grey. This makes the petty difference between characters seem that much more absurd. 

The lack of a score is interesting as well, as we are more in a meditative state of the comings and goings of the everyday lives of the characters. Besides a jazz piano during selective scenes, the silence of the film suggests a growing stillness or staleness to Reenie's life. 

The 4:3 boxy ratio also presents a tightening of the images that really gives the film a sense of feeling trapped. There seems to be nowhere for the characters to go in the frame, making them trapped by their circumstances. 

The film's characters all are 'passing' as something; white, straight, economically and socially stable, even happy. Because of this, none of the characters are allowed to be their natural selves. They withhold who they really are from others and must hide their inner selves. Because of this, the events of the story start to unfold in a negative way. Had the characters had been able to live in a world that didn't trap them in a box, and were more free to break free from its confines, they would have felt more safe and been happier.



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