#305: White Lies, Pt. 2 — Passing

The Next Picture Show

Telegraph Road Productions

Tv & Film, Film Reviews, Film History

4.6 • 819 Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2021

⏱️ 82 minutes

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Summary

Rebecca Hall’s new PASSING takes a more restrained, internal approach to its story about racial identity and the rejection thereof than Douglas Sirk’s 1959 classic IMITATION OF LIFE, but the two films share an awareness of how style and subject matter can work hand in hand. We’re joined again this week by critic Odie Henderson to discuss how each film balances its messaging, storytelling, and style, after digging into PASSING’s black-and-white cinematography, literary source material, and ambiguous ending. Plus Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent viewing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your radar. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about IMITATION OF LIFE, PASSING, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Show Notes: Works Cited: • “One Last Bit of Black History” by Odie Henderson (Big Media Vandalism) • “Angels of Death: A Prairie Home Companion and All That Jazz” by Odie Henderson (Slant Magazine) Your Next Picture Show: • Odie: Douglas Sirk’s LURED; Lewis Seiler’s WOMEN’S PRISON; Mamoru Hosada’s BELLE • Tasha: Hayao Miyazaki’s FUTURE BOY CONAN • Genevieve: Penny Lane’s LISTENING TO KENNY G • Keith: Todd Haynes’ FAR FROM HEAVEN; Mike Mills’ C’MON C’MON Outro music: “Irene and Claire” by Devonté Hynes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.
0:05.1	You believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?
0:11.9	We may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us.
0:19.4	Welcome back to The Next Picture Show, a movie The Week podcast devoted to a classic film
0:23.4	the way it shaped our thoughts on a recent release.
0:26.1	I'm Keith Phipps, here again with Genevieve Koski and Tasha Robinson.
0:30.2	And joining us once again is film critic Odie Henderson.
0:32.9	Hello, Odie.
0:33.6	Hello.
0:34.6	On last week's show, we talked about Invitation of Life, Douglas Cirque's 1959 classic about two mothers, two daughters, and the ways racial attitudes influence
0:41.4	their lives. This week, we're bringing in Rebecca Hall's passing, an adaptation of
0:45.2	Nella Larson's 1929 novel starring Ruth Naga and Tessa Thompson.
0:49.3	Passing opens with Irene, played by Thompson, a philanthropist and the wife were
0:53.0	prominent Harlem doctor,
0:58.7	stepping into a world normally closed to her by letting her light skin allow her access to an upscale Manhattan tea room. Once there, she stumbles across a childhood friend who's apparently
1:03.3	made this world her own. Claire, played by Nega, is visiting from Chicago, where she's married
1:08.8	John, played by Alexander Scarsguard, a vocally
1:11.7	racist businessman who believes her to be white. When Claire introduces Irene to her husband,
1:16.3	who assumes she's white as well, it is, to say the least, an awkward situation. When Claire
1:21.7	begins visiting Irene and insinuing herself into the life Irene is made with her husband,
1:26.0	Brian, played by Andre Holland, it becomes more awkward still.
1:29.7	There's a lot going on in passing, some of it on the surface, and some of it subtext.
	...

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