The trailer for Kasi Lemmons‘ Harriet (Focus Features, 11.1) feels a little too on-the-nose. The obvious gold standard in this agony-of-slavery realm is Steve McQueen‘s 12 Years A Slave, but I’m not sensing a similar degree of investment and authenticity. Tonally it reminds me a little bit of Nate Parker‘s Birth of a Nation. (In that 2016 film the hateful young white slave owner was played by Armie Hammer; here the same type of character is played by Joe Alwyn.) I loved Cynthia Erivo in McQueen’s Widows, but Janelle Monae isn’t exuding “period” vibes. Harriet will play the Toronto Film Festival, but not Venice or Telluride. I’d love to see Harriet become an important, must-see film, if for no other reason than the Trump administration’s reported decision to delay the Harriet Tubman $20 dollar bill until at least 2026.
