Clemency (film)

Movie
German title	Clemency
Original title	Clemency
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2019
length	113 minutes
Rod
Director	Chinonye Chukwu
script	Chinonye Chukwu
production	Timur Bekbosunov , ; Julian Cautherley , ; Bronwyn Cornelius , ; Peter Wong
music	Kathryn Bostic
camera	Eric Branco
cut	Phyllis Housen
occupation
	Alfre Woodard : Bernadine Williams; LaMonica Garrett : Major Logan Cartwright; Wendell Pierce : Jonathan Williams; Aldis Hodge : Anthony Woods; Danielle Brooks : Evette; Richard Schiff : Marty Lumetta; Michael O'Neill: Chaplain Kendricks; Vernee Watson : Mrs. Collins; Dennis Haskins : Mr. Collins; Michelle C. Bonilla : Sonia;

Clemency is a drama film directed by Chinonye Chukwu that premiered on January 27, 2019 at the Sundance Film Festival and was released in US theaters on December 27, 2019.

action

Bernadine Williams is a prison guard in the maximum security section of a prison in the United States. Her emotional bond with the condemned Anthony Woods crumbles the facade that she has maintained in her professional life for dozens of executions.

production

Staff, score, and cast

Director and screenwriter Chinonye Chukwu

Chinonye Chukwu directed and wrote the screenplay. According to her own statements, she was inspired by the Troy Davis case in her work . The sentenced to death, African American citizen was executed in 2011 after the murder of a white police officer. He spent 20 years on death row after the execution of his sentence was postponed three times. Most recently, in August 2009 , the Supreme Court instructed a federal court to hear the case again. Although seven of the 34 witnesses withdrew their testimony, the court upheld the death sentence in August 2010. Hundreds of thousands of people protested the morning of his execution, including some retired guards and prison officials.

A demonstration against the execution of Troy Davis in Paris

In preparation for the film, Chukwu had spoken to prison staff and retired guards, including prison officials, as well as lawyers and imprisoned men and women, which influenced how she wanted the characters to appear in her film. In Bernadine Williams' office, for example, a clock was repeatedly shown: “Time is a complicated, painful thing when you are locked up. Time means different things when you are serving a life sentence. Time means something else when you're waiting to die. Time means something different when you have your death sentence. Time means something different when you have no idea if you will be pardoned at the last moment. There's a lot of waiting in prison, so I wanted the audience to have different experiences with time. "

The film music was composed by Kathryn Bostic . The soundtrack, which comprises a total of 14 pieces of music, was released for download by Milan Records on December 20, 2019.

Alfre Woodard took on the role of prison guard Bernadine Williams, Aldis Hodge played the death row inmate Anthony Woods. LaMonica Garrett stars as Major Logan Cartwright, Michael O'Neill as Chaplain Kendricks, Wendell Pierce as Jonathan Williams, Danielle Brooks as Evette and Richard Schiff as Marty Lumetta. Vernee Watson and Dennis Haskins play Mrs. and Mr. Collins. Michelle C. Bonilla took on the role of Sonia.

Filming and publishing

The film was shot at the Sybil Brand Institute in Los Angeles

Much of the filming took place at the Sybil Brand Institute in Los Angeles, which served as the setting for the prison facility.

The film premiered on January 27, 2019 at the Sundance Film Festival , where Chukwu was the first African American woman to be awarded the Grand Jury Prize in the Dramatic Competition. Shortly afterwards, Neon secured the rights to the film. In March 2019, the film was shown on New Directors / New Films, a series of films jointly presented by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. In September 2019 the film was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Special Presentations, in October 2019 at the Hamptons International Film Festival and at the London Film Festival . It was released in US cinemas on December 27, 2019. In January 2020 it will be shown at the Palm Springs International Film Festival .

reception

Age rating

In the USA, the film received an R rating from the MPAA , which corresponds to a rating of 17 and over.

Reviews

So far, the film has convinced 92 percent of all Rotten Tomatoes critics and achieved an average rating of 7.7 out of a possible 10 points.

Manohla Dargis of the New York Times writes that Chinonye Chukwu, with Clemency, turned a character study into an indictment of institutionalized murder with visual rigor and not just a little sentimentality . Its horror would be made tangible in a terrible way.