Fences (2016)

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Movie
German title Fences
Original title Fences
Logo Film Fences 2016.svg
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2016
length 139 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
JMK 8
Rod
Director Denzel Washington
script August Wilson
production Todd Black ,
Scott Rudin ,
Denzel Washington
music Marcelo Zarvos
camera Charlotte Bruus Christensen
cut Hughes Winborne
occupation

Fences is an American drama directed by Denzel Washington based on the play of the same name by August Wilson and released in US theaters on December 16, 2016. The German theatrical release was on February 16, 2017.

At the 2017 Academy Awards , Fences received nominations in four categories, including Best Picture , Denzel Washington for Best Actor, and August Wilson posthumously for Best Adapted Screenplay . Viola Davis received the Oscar Statue for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Rose Maxson .

action

In the late 1950s , Troy Maxson, an African American , worked very hard in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania to provide his wife Rose with a dignified life and to keep his family afloat. The two have a son named Cory. Troy's 34-year-old son Lyons from a previous marriage lives only for his music; he regularly comes by Troy's payday to borrow money. Even if he earns little, Troy has only recently bought a house. For this he used compensation that his younger brother Gabriel had received, an ex-soldier who had a metal plate in his head after a war injury and had the intellect of a child.

Troy once dreamed of a career as a baseball player because he played successfully in the Negro Leagues , but now his everyday life is determined by his job at the garbage collection and daily discrimination based on his skin color. Every day Troy and his colleague Jim Bono, who is also his best friend, drive through town together in the back of the garbage truck. When he asks his supervisor why people of color cannot become garbage truck drivers, he is summoned to see the district manager. It is feared that he will be fired, instead he will actually be the first black man in town to be promoted to a driver.

His son, Cory, who is a talented athlete who plays football at his school and who still lives with his parents, begins to rebel against his father, who is increasingly acting like the patriarch of his family. Troy doesn't want his son to play football, he should find a decent job instead. Troy keeps talking about the experiences with his hard-hearted father and the battles he had with the devil, e.g. B. when he struggled with death in the hospital for a few days. Rose thinks this is a pipe dream, but sometimes finds the stories amusing.

Troy and Rose are increasingly realizing the complexities and contradictions in their relationship and that their 18-year marriage is built on a sense of obligation and is therefore extremely fragile. Even if Troy loves his wife, he does not manage to free himself from the thought of not wanting to be dependent on anyone and being able to determine his own life. Troy can show his generally very cheerful demeanor when he's happy, but also shows a terrifying presence when he's not. Troy realizes that his experiences with his father have influenced him more than he had believed and that he cannot control his family the way he thinks.

Troy begins a relationship with another woman. When she becomes pregnant, he confesses it to Rose, who is very upset about it. The woman dies in childbirth; Rose takes care of the baby named Raynell. But she finally breaks up with Troy, even if they stay together. Troy starts to drink. When he blocks Cory, who despises him, the way into the house and sends him away, there is an argument with him.

Years later, the family meets for Troy's funeral. Cory made a career in the Army while Lyons landed in jail and received custodial leave. Raynell is a cheerful little girl who Rose is her mother to. Cory doesn't want to go to the funeral service, but Rose persuades him to do so. With Raynell he sings the blues that Troy has learned about Blue, an old, dying dog. When Gabriel blows his trumpet, the sky opens.

production

Literary template

The film is based on the play Fences (Engl. For fences ) by August Wilson , who also wrote the screenplay adaptation for the film. The US playwright, who is one of the most important African American authors, received the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award in 1987 for the play . A central concern of the playwright was to address the injustice against black people, but not to let them persist in their victim role, of which Troy is a good example. Wilson, who himself wrote the script adaptation of his play for a film but died shortly afterwards, had insisted that only an African-American director should film the play.

Meaning of the title of drama and film

In the play, Troy Maxson is busy building the eponymous fence in his spare time to seal himself off from the outside world. Maxson says, "I'll build a fence around what belongs to me."

The film, too, concentrates entirely on the back yard of Troy Maxson's house and thus adheres to the strict, scenic structure of the play on which it is based. Lukas Foerster from Der Freitag explains that this hardwood fence, which Troy believes he has to build in this already narrow space surrounded on all sides by reddish-brick buildings, not only gives the film its title, but is also metaphorically charged in a variety of ways: “Some build fences, it is said once, to lock people out, others do it to lock people in. ”Verena Lueken from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung explains that Fences is a film that takes place between fences and tells of the state of the world in this small space where these characters fight for their lives.

Staff, cast and dubbing

Denzel Washington played the lead role in the film and also directed it
The shooting took place among others in the Hill District of Pittsburgh instead, where the birthplace is August Wilson is

Directed by Denzel Washington , who also played the lead role of Troy in the film. This is the third film directed by Washington , after Antwone Fisher and The Great Debaters in Fences . Washington had already appeared on Broadway in 2010 in the role of Troy Maxson in Fences . For this work Washington was also awarded the Tony Award for best actor . Since Fences was the only one of his plays for which Wilson also wrote a script, Washington tried to adapt it to the screen.

Viola Davis took on the role of Rose, in which she already appeared on stage alongside Washington as Troy Maxson's wife in 2010. Mykelti Williamson plays Troy's brother Gabriel Maxson, Russell Hornsby and Jovan Adepo plays his sons Lyons and Cory, and child actress Saniyya Sidney stars as daughter Raynell. Stephen Henderson plays Troy's best friend Jim Bono.

Washington's German regular speaker Leon Boden lends him his voice in the role of Troy Maxson. Viola Davis in the role of his wife will be dubbed by Martina Treger . Troy's brother Gabriel is voiced in German by Olaf Reichmann , and his sons Lyons and Cory are dubbed by Charles Rettinghaus and Amadeus Strobl . Lukas Foerster from Der Freitag says about the German dubbing that it not only deprives the film, like every other film, of innumerable nuances of meaning, but actually undermines it. Foerster recommends watching the film in the original English version if at all possible.

Filming

The shooting took place in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, the location of the film and the play on which it is based. They started there on April 25, 2016 in the Hill District, a neighborhood where a large part of the population is African American. In early June 2016, recordings took place on Wabash Street in the West End of Pittsburgh, bringing historic vehicles to the location, including 40 vintage cars from the 1950s, old police vehicles and a school bus from that time. Shooting ended on June 14, 2016.

The plot hardly leaves the rooms and surroundings of the house, and Washington staged long passages of dialogue in the simplest shot-counter-shot settings , as can be seen in other theatrical adaptations such as Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf? knows. According to August Wilson's widow, the shooting took place in a house that perfectly evokes the world in which her deceased husband lived.

Film music

The soundtrack was composed by Marcelo Zarvos . In December 2016, the soundtrack was included in the list of candidates (longlist) at the Academy Awards 2017 in the category Best Film Music , from which the members of the Academy will determine the official nominations.

The soundtrack for the film comprises 16 tracks and was released in digital form by Sony Classical on December 6, 2016 . The soundtrack was released on CD on January 6, 2017 .

publication

On December 6, 2016, the film was presented at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC . The film was released in selected US cinemas on December 16, 2016, and launched nationwide on December 25, 2016. A theatrical release in Germany took place on February 16, 2017. On February 3, 2020, the film was included in the Netflix program.

reception

Age rating

The film is FSK 6 in Germany . The statement of reasons for the release states: “The story based on a stage play is told in a calm and dialogue-centered manner, it is limited to a few characters and locations. Preschool children can be irritated by individual emotionally tense situations and outbursts of aggression, but even 6-year-olds can deal with these aspects. The calm staging, the setting and the sometimes theatrical appearance offer them sufficient opportunities to distance themselves. "

Reviews

The film was able to convince 92 percent of the critics at Rotten Tomatoes and achieved an average rating of 7.7 out of a possible 10 points.

Owen Gleiberman of Variety says, Washington's portrayal of a man who tried to resist the daily injustice like a hurricane, but ultimately disappointed by his family and himself, was impressive. Troy thinks in the film that the conditions for African Americans in society will never change, and his thinking thus leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy . According to Gleiberman, the film shows great seriousness, which is likely to be decisive in the upcoming award season. When looking at the film, there is never any doubt that these lives are important , which is a good and noble cause, says Gleiberman, but the film sometimes seems a little too strenuous in this attempt. Marietta Steinhart from Zeit Online also thinks that the material is more topical than ever today in view of police violence against blacks and the developments of the Trump presidency.

Sascha Westphal from epd Film says about the acting performance of Washington's filmmaker : “Davis plays Rose Maxson, who is obviously in the shadow of her husband. While he is constantly swinging his big speeches and posing as the master of the house, she usually stays calm. She doesn't have to constantly call out her suffering in life and in society, it is more present in her demeanor and looks than in Troy's words. But that's only one side of Davis's game. The other testifies to a tremendous strength and dignity. "

Westphal's colleague Barbara Schweizerhof calls Fences a fascinating film, precisely because it retains a theatrical quality and says: “It is not easy to listen to this person for over two hours with frequent monologues, but Denzel Washington, who played the role on stage in 2010 , brings out such a wealth of nuances of motives and attitudes out of his figure that one is nevertheless spellbound. ”According to Schweizerhof, Washington does so in addition to the great story of racial segregation , unjust legislation and unequal earning opportunities, as well as individual history in Troy appears as a very individual character with weaknesses, strengths, hardenings and injuries.

Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter looked for Fences good chance at the Oscar ceremony in 2017 as Best Film to be nominated, but also for Denzel Washington in the categories of Best Director and Best Actor . Also Viola Davis saw Feinberg as a possible candidate as Best Actress and Stephen Henderson and Mykelti Williamson as Best Supporting Actor . August Wilson , who adapted his play, saw Feinberg as a very promising candidate in the Best Adapted Screenplay category . Marcelo Zarvos ' soundtrack , film editing, costume design and some other work for the film also seemed Oscar-worthy to him. From the American Film Institute was Fences in the top 10 list of the November 2016 AFI Movies of the Year added.

Gross profit

The worldwide revenue of the film is so far 63.1 million US dollars.

Awards (selection)

The film and those involved received a large number of nominations and awards, including multiple awards and nominations from the 2017 NAACP Image Awards , four nominations from the Black Film Critics Circle Awards 2016, and one nomination from the Excellence in Production Design Awards 2017 , two actor nominations for the AACTA International Awards 2017 , one nomination for the Online Film Critics Society Awards 2017 for Best Actor for Denzel Washington, and two nominations for Best International Actor for Washington and Viola Davis at the Irish Film and TV Awards 2017. At the 2017 Academy Awards , Fences received nominations in four categories, including Best Picture , Denzel Washington for Best Actor, and August Wilson posthumously for Best Adapted Screenplay . The following list contains a selection of the most famous award ceremonies.

British Academy Film Awards 2017

  • Award for Best Supporting Actress (Viola Davis)

Critics' Choice Movie Awards 2016 (December)

Golden Globe Awards 2017

London Critics' Circle Film Awards 2017

Academy Awards 2017

Producers Guild of America Awards 2017

  • Nomination for The Darryl F. Zanuck Award (Scott Rudin, Denzel Washington and Todd Black)

Satellite Awards 2016

  • Nomination for best film
  • Nomination for Best Director (Denzel Washington)
  • Nomination for Best Actor (Denzel Washington)
  • Nomination for Best Supporting Actress (Viola Davis)

Screen Actors Guild Awards 2017

  • Award as Best Actor (Denzel Washington)
  • Award for Best Supporting Actress (Viola Davis)
  • Nomination for best acting ensemble in a film

Writers Guild of America Awards 2017

  • Nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (August Wilson)

Web links

Commons : Fences  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for fences . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 165832 / K). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ Age rating for fences . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Leading role in 'Fences' Denzel Washington on Broadway In: n-tv.de, November 11, 2009.
  4. ↑ a b Fences Stars Viola Davis & Denzel Washington Win 2010 Tony Awards In: broadway.com, June 13, 2016.
  5. ↑ a b c d Marietta Steinhart: 'Fences'. In the prison of one's own disappointment In: Zeit Online, February 14, 2017.
  6. ↑ Denzel Washington in conversation with Wolfgang Höbel: Denzel Washington about the Oscars. 'Someone will always feel discriminated against' In: Spiegel Online, February 18, 2017.
  7. ↑ a b Lukas Foerster: The voice before the end In: Der Freitag, issue 07/17.
  8. ↑ Verena Lueken: 'Fences' in the cinema. Scenes between fences In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, February 16, 2017.
  9. ↑ It's No More Mr. Nice Guy for This Everyman In: The New York Times, June 11, 2010.
  10. ↑ Fences In: moviepilot.de. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  11. ↑ 'Fences' filming turns back the clock in Pittsburgh In: Pittsburgh Gazette, April 25, 2016.
  12. ↑ Sarah Schneider: Film Crew Takes Pittsburgh Back To The 1950s For Adaptation of August Wilson's 'Fences' In: wesa.fm, June 3, 2016.
  13. ↑ Dave Crawley: Denzel Washington's Production Of 'Fences' Wraps Filming In The Hill District In: pittsburgh.cbslocal.com, June 14, 2016.
  14. ↑ Michael Meyns: 'Fences'. Film review In: programmkino.de. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  15. ↑ Real places that inspired scenes in Oscar-nominated films ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / jenkins.allongeorgia.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: allongeorgia.com, January 25, 2017.
  16. ↑ Marcelo Zarvos to Score Denzel Washington's 'Fences' In: filmmusicreporter.com, October 4, 2016.
  17. ↑ 145 Original Scores In 2016 Oscar Race In: oscars.org, December 13, 2016.
  18. ↑ Liz Calvario: 'Fences': Marcelo Zarvos' Stirring Score Brings Denzel Washington Drama to Life In: indiewire.com, December 1, 2016.
  19. ↑ 'Fences' Soundtrack Details In: filmmusicreporter.com, December 2, 2016.
  20. ↑ Helena Andrews-Dyer: Denzel Washington doesn't see his new film 'Fences' as political In: washingtonpost.com, December 7, 2016.
  21. ↑ Alissa Wilkinson: Denzel Washington and Viola Davis are remarkable in the timely and timeless Fences In: vox.com, December 14, 2016.
  22. ^ Reasons for the release of Fences In: Voluntary self-control of the film industry. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  23. ↑ Fences In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  24. ^ Owen Gleiberman: Film Review: Denzel Washington and Viola Davis in 'Fences' In: Variety, November 22, 2016.
  25. ↑ Sascha Westphal: Close-up of Viola Davis In: epd Film, February 6, 2017.
  26. ↑ Barbara Schweizerhof: Critique of Fences In: epd Film, January 27, 2017.
  27. ↑ Scott Feinberg: Feinberg Forecast: Trick or Treat, the Oscar Race Heads Into November In: The Hollywood Reporter, November 1, 2016.
  28. ↑ Patrick Hipes: AFI Awards: Best Of 2016 Film List Includes 'Silence', 'Hacksaw Ridge' & More In: deadline.com, December 8, 2016.
  29. ↑ Fences In: boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  30. ↑ Ruth Kinane: Beyoncé leads the pack of 2017 NAACP Image Awards nominees In: Entertainment Weekly, December 13, 2016.
  31. ↑ McKenna Aiello: NAACP Image Awards 2017 Winners: The Complete List In: eonline.com, February 12, 2017.
  32. ↑ Erik Pedersen: 'Moonlight' Named Best Film By Black Film Critics Circle As Barry Jenkins Wins Twice; 4 Nods For 'Fences' In: deadline.com, December 20, 2016.
  33. ↑ Patrick Hipes: Art Directors Guild Awards Nominations: 'Rogue One', 'Game Of Thrones' & More In: deadline.com, January 5, 2017.
  34. ↑ 6th AACTA International Awards In: aacta.org. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  35. ↑ 2016 Awards In: ofcs.org. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  36. ↑ IFTA Nominations Announced for the IFTA Film & Drama Awards 2017 In: hotpress.com, March 8, 2017.
  37. ↑ Patrick Hipes: BAFTA Awards: 'La La Land' Wins Best Film In: deadline.com, February 12, 2017.
  38. ↑ Gregg Kilday: 'La La Land,' 'Arrival,' 'Moonlight' Top Critics' Choice Nominations In: The Hollywood Reporter, December 1, 2016.
  39. ↑ Scott Feinberg: Critics' Choice Awards: How They May Have Helped to Focus the Oscar Race In: The Hollywood Reporter, December 11, 2016.
  40. ↑ Luca Celada: The 74th Golden Globe Nominations: La La Land, Moonlight And Emerging TV Talent In: goldenglobes.com, December 12, 2016.
  41. ↑ Nancy Tartaglione: 'Moonlight', 'Love & Friendship' Lead London Critics' Circle Nominations In: deadline.com, December 20, 2016.
  42. ↑ Here Are the 2017 Oscar Nominations In: time.com, January 24, 2017.
  43. ↑ Hilary Lewis and Ashley Lee: 2017 PGA Film Nominees Include 'Deadpool,' 'Moonlight,' 'La La Land'; 'Westworld,' 'Stranger Things,' 'Atlanta' Among TV In: The Hollywood Reporter, January 5, 2017.
  44. ↑ Jazz Tangcay: Satellite Nominations Announced In: awardsdaily.com, November 29, 2016.
  45. ↑ Tracy Brown: Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations 2017: Complete list of nominees In: Los Angeles Times, December 14, 2016.
  46. ↑ Michael Roffman: 2017 SAG Awards Winners: The Complete List In: consequenceofsound.net, January 30, 2017.
  47. ^ Gregg Kilday and Michael O'Connell: 'La La Land,' 'Moonlight' Among WGA Theatrical Screenplay Nominations; 'Westworld,' 'Stranger Things' Lead TV Noms In: The Hollywood Reporter, December 8, 2016.