Antebellum was Bad
Spoilers ahead — read at your own risk.
When I first saw the ads for Antebellum I was intrigued. I always say to myself, “Not another slave movie” but, the casting gets me every single time. Between that and the masterful art of trailer phishing, I just had to watch.
Directors Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz's debut project is about the sinister desire to keep white supremacy alive and the lengths people will go to do so. The idea came from a nightmare Gerard had and adapted from a short story of the same name. The kidnapping of Veronica/Eden played by Jenelle Monáe is a uniquely painful one. A story of 1800s slavery fantasy escape should leave you with righteous satisfaction, but the missing elements leave us severely underwhelmed.
Overall, the movie isn’t very good. Loosely held together with some beautiful imagery, well-placed embeds and payoffs, and match cuts like no other, this movie doesn’t build enough tension to the reveal.
Watching Antebellum from beginning to end was really strange. At any given time, you’d think you were watching two separate movies. Between the disjointed dialogue, and uninvolved actions of the supporting characters, we're given a feeling of aimlessness until the very end.
That being said, this movie wasn’t completely horrible.
Color grading is an important part of storytelling in film. The then and now in Antebellum don’t feel connected. Before Veronica was kidnapped, the lighting wasn’t good. It didn’t match anything going on tonally, with the exception of the restaurant.
On the other hand, the plantation’s color grading is so bright and beautiful it beams a romantic mood onto the viewer. The contrast between what it is and what it looks like almost makes you joyful before the imagery is snatched away by the violence on screen. It’s intentional, jarring, and really burns an image in your head. Literally. Veronica lighting the sweatbox on fire as she escapes gives the same feeling. The visuals of escaping the plantation, in its entirety, were meticulously put together to give you the same freeing feeling as Veronica had when she killed the Headhunter and rode off.
Another win for this movie was the casting. Janelle Monae is no stranger to historical pieces. None have been fiction but, who better to make you believe you were really in it? The supporting actors’ lineup was phenomenal too. Gabourey Sidobe, Keirsey Clemons, Marque Richardson, and Eric Lange. With a cast like that, a bad performance wasn’t something to worry about.
Lastly, the concept of this movie is actually great. Plausible even. Though this may be a wild conspiracy, someone somewhere absolutely has enough money to create their own little race play fantasy. Civil war reenactments are real, Black people go missing at unprecedented rates. This combined with the resurgence of embracing white supremacy… I have no doubt there are people who would avidly participate. It’s just an idea.
Now let's get into some critiques.
The dialogue isn’t real. It’s that ‘yes queen period sis girl werk’ dialogue that is just miserable to hear nowadays. It was entertaining in 2014–2016 but now, I feel like this is what white people think AAVE sounds like. Oddly enough, Black writers are the ones keeping this alive. This type of dialogue keeps getting produced, and it seems like this is what Black people think Black people want to see. It’s one of those situations where it’s the only thing we keep getting, so we’re stuck in a ‘well I guess I’ll keep watching it’ paradox.
It feels incredibly forced and unnatural. The scene where Dawn talks to the man sending drinks over is so cringy, I damn near had to leave the room. After a third watch-through, I had to figure out why I disliked the way they spoke so much. People simply don't talk like that. Later on, I also found myself asking Does this move the story along? The answer is no for most of the movie.
The script is shallow. Nobody really ever says anything significant. The conversations the friends have are frank, boring, and almost entirely uninvolved with the story as a whole. Some parts like the unnamed Headhunter leaving Veronicas' room dirty, a child in 1800s attire dragging a black doll on a leash in 2019, and the characters vaguely knowing one another we’re just useless pieces because they were never brought up again.
Leaving only a brief feeling of satisfaction as Veronica escapes the plantation, it’s oddly squandered as the Feds sweep the grounds appearing as if they are saving the day. It was a heavy-handed, overexplained ending that didn’t need to be there.
Overall the movie had a solid base but it just doesn't do enough. I think it really could’ve been something with a few more tweaks. I’m actually excited to see more of Bush’s work in the future. For the most part, you can only get better from here.