Titus Kaphar is an African American painter from Kalamazoo, Michigan. He got his Master's degree from Yale University. In 2018, he won the MacArthur "Genius" Grant. A lot of his work is about history and race, including a painting about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings. A lot of his paintings also features Black parents with their children where the children are in white silhouettes, as if their images have been ripped out of the canvas. Another of his most notable works are the pieces about his father, Jerome, from whom Kaphar is estranged. As the writer and director, it's clear that a lot of this film is autobiographical, as we see a lot of those aforementioned pieces of art on display here.
Kaphar isn't the only painter to transition into filmmaking. Julian Schnabel was nominated for an Academy Award for his film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007). Like Kaphar, Schnabel did large-scale canvases, works that could fill up an entire wall. Schnabel worked in the late 20th century. When Schnabel started filmmaking, he brought more of an artistic style to his directing. Kaphar isn't exactly doing that. For his debut feature, it's more about conveying this character study of an artist and his father.
André Holland (Moonlight and Selma) stars as Terrell Rodin, a painter who seems to live in the New York-New Jersey area. He seems to be somewhat successful. He lives in a really nice, suburban home. He's married and he has a son who is probably around five years old. He just had a show or an exhibition of his work. His manager or agent wants him to do another, but he wants to take a break.
Terrell wants to do so to give more time to his family, his wife and his son, but also to his single mother. In particular, he wants to move his mom from her impoverished home in the city to some place closer to him in the suburbs. However, his mom is slowing the process. She isn't outright refusing to move or relocate. She simply is procrastinating or trying to draw out the move. The majority of the film is Terrell visiting his mom and taking a few days to pack up her house and move her out of the city.
John Earl Jelks (New Amsterdam and Night Comes On) co-stars as La'Ron, the father to Terrell. When we first see him, La'Ron is homeless, living as a bum on the streets, dirty and desperate, hanging out in front of a liquor store. We learn later that his homelessness was due to his crack addiction. This is only one of the reasons why he is estranged from his son. Another reason is how La'Ron treated Terrell when he was a child. Some might see it as tough love. Others might see it as abuse.
While Terrell is packing up his mom's house, La'Ron shows up, hoping to reconcile with his son, as well as get to know his grandson. When Terrell sees his father, having not had contact in years, he gets triggered. It's clear that Terrell hates La'Ron and wants nothing to do with his hobo dad. Terrell also doesn't want La'Ron anywhere near La'Ron's grandson. The film is about how La'Ron has affected Terrell and what Terrell needs in order to move on.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (King Richard and If Beale Street Could Talk) also co-stars as Joyce aka "Mama Joyce," the mother to Terrell. She is very much a church-going woman who is always quoting the Bible. It's not clear if she was always so God-fearing, but she certainly is now. Given what we learn about her history, it wouldn't be a surprise if her Christian conversion was a recent thing. In one of the most powerful scenes, Terrell pushes back and criticizes his mom on a Biblical verse, citing that verse for which she seems unprepared.
Terrell is obviously the corollary or proxy for Titus Kaphar. This is underlined by the fact that the art we see Terrell creating is the same or similar art that Kaphar has created. The style that Kaphar utilizes in his paintings is essentially shown being implemented here and we even see the origins of that style in a pretty powerful sequence in the latter half of this film.
Andra Day (The Deliverance and The United States vs. Billie Holiday) rounds out the cast as Aisha, the wife to Terrell. She's a musician, which is what Andra Day is in real-life. We don't get much about her. Apparently, she didn't know about Terrell's father, which is odd that Terrell never told her or she didn't ask. She might know about La'Ron, but the film seems unclear about what she does and doesn't know. She does craft a song within the narrative that becomes the film's theme song. It's called "Bricks," which should be nominated for an Oscar, along withAndré Holland for his performance here.
Rated R for language and brief drug use.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 57 mins.
In theaters.