Fences (2016). Photofest.
(Denzel Washington, US 2016, 139 min., DCP)
In 2015, Denzel Washington stated his desire to produce each of August Wilson’s 10-play “Pittsburgh Cycle” as films. He started by producing, directing, and starring in this adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fences. Washington starred in the 2010 Broadway revival of the play along with Viola Davis, who also reprises her role here. In 1950s Pittsburgh, Troy Maxson (Washington) works as a garbage man and lives with his wife, Rose (Davis). This seemingly quotidian existence belies a maelstrom of drama beneath the surface, including a younger brother whose war injury has left him impaired, a prison stint, a failed baseball career, a son from a previous marriage, and an illicit affair. Each set in a different decade of the 20th Century, Wilson’s cycle reflects the moods and struggles of that particular time.