24/Nov/2022. Watched. My rating: 9/10.
Prior to watching this, I knew next to nothing about the historical figure, John Brown. Matter of fact, I knew only his name and the fact that he was a violent abolitionist. But after watching this, like after watching any film based on any historical events, I've begun researching about the man and his history. That's the thing about great filmmaking; it infects you with its own curiosity regarding the subject it is about. Which makes me wonder if my own interests stem from others' passions.
The Good Lord Bird is a limited series which came out in 2020 and it is directed by a group of coloured people, men and women. Its short, sweet and to the point and the cinematography at times reminded me of Red Dead Redemption 2.
The casting is just phenomenal here, really great bunch of actors in really well written roles. Ethan Hawke tore the stage with his thunderous performance as John and he deserves all the praise that he got for it and his larger than life character is perfectly complimented by young Joshua Caleb Johnson's relatively restrained performance as Onion. Wyatt Russel, Daveed Diggs... what a cast.
Funny enough, Ellar Coltrane, who was the boy in Linklater's Boyhood (2014), played Ethan's son in this as well. I guess its his niche, his speciality.
I was going to write a piece on it talking about the various layers of dichotomy (between god & country, humor & horror, black & white etc.) but I watched it on 24th of November and today is 16th of December and I'm no longer interested in talking about it. Plus, today, I'm sick at heart.
Great show though.
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