For the number of movies I see, there aren’t many trailers that make me audibly exasperate, ‘Oh c’mon on!’ The trailer for Antebellum promises a premise of a young successful black mother living in the modern day, thrust back into the days of slavery, picking cotton in rags. We are in the grips of a socio-intellectual horror revolution, thanks to the likes of Jordan Peele and Ari Aster, but Antebellum looks like it wants to throw any subtlety out the window. If anything, Antebellum seems set to prove that whatever janky horror scenario Hollywood can dream up to get those naive boys and girls running in fear pales in comparison to our history books. Would you like your horror movie with a slab of white guilt this evening?
In Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz’s movie, Antebellum, Janelle Monáe is a slave named Eden, favoured by the General and picks cotton with fields of other slaves who look to her for salvation. She is reluctant to challenge the ruling Confederates, after a failed attempt at running away. Flash to Veronica Henley (also Janelle Monáe) in the modern day; a published sociologist in a lovely apartment with a husband and small daughter. Veronica has just made headlines, by challenging a grumpy old man in a debate on the news, and must fly across cities for an academic conference with some gal pals. Once at the hotel, strange things start to occur, like a delivery of flowers with cotton bolls in them, and an elevator ride with a creepy young girl who tells her not to speak. What is going on, and what trouble do Eden and Veronica find themselves in?
If that synopsis hasn’t already given you the hint, this is a movie that needs figuring out, and stays vague for a long time. I’m going to be writing with a potential to produce spoilers from here on out, so if you’re all good with that, welcome to my take on Antebellum. Maybe I should begin with what I thought the movie was going to be about; I thought some supernatural element was going to suck Veronica back in time, as if she was now one woman with two minds in different places, like Sandra Bullock in Premonition – Antebellum does hint at a shared consciousness for a hot minute, when Veronica gets out of bed. I was anticipating a blend of past and present timelines, with some Shutter Island, or even Inception-type CGI. I checked the trailer again when I got home, and I think I was led to predict this, by the way Eden and the airplane glitch! But what we do get with Antebellum is a lot simpler. It’s not the first time a trailer has heightened expectations in the wrong direction, and it won’t be the last, but today it’s led me to an interesting quandary – what comes first, the movie or the trailer? You can’t produce a trailer until the movie is filmed. But if you’re the average punter, you see the trailer first. It’s the trailer’s job to entice, and whet your appetite for the movie ahead. But the trailer can also shape the experience, by relaying the premise, or heightening certain aspects of a movie that already exists. So the movie and the trailer are in the same symbiotic conundrum as the chicken and the egg for mine; funny, isn’t it? Next time you want to be the life of the dinner party, forget about poultry, and ask about the movie and the trailer.
From what I expected to what has been delivered, Antebellum is a letdown. There are some positives – I believe Monáe is truly commendable in her emotional workout of a role. The opening act succeeds at being gruesome in the same vein as 12 Years a Slave, although it keeps our characters at arms-length – that is, as much as possible considering the disturbing acts inflicted – because the movie is deliberately lacking in context. Antebellum doesn’t seem to bother itself with making a huge political statement, except for a literal gaze at Confederate statues with a contemptuous eye, which brings to question what these monuments actually represent. I was terribly excited to see Gabourey Sidibe after coming to appreciate her in American Horror Story too, and she owns her time on screen. The first and last five minutes of Antebellum are the most powerful, but to what end? Remove the emotional music and what are the scenes saying? Not much. But it’s not all bad news; a movie like Antebellum has refreshed my favour of similar type movies like Get Out, Arrival and Room, and given me a new measuring stick for movies like Midsommar – movies with a strong sense of place, and an indeterminate vibe. There’s an M. Night Shyamalan movie that strongly comes to mind too, for the tone and conclusion of Antebellum, but I don’t know whether I should even put that idea in your head if you’re not yet to cover Antebellum for yourself…. Okay, I’ll give you a hangman’s puzzle to solve, and if you’re good enough, you’re good enough. The Shyamalan movie Antebellum reminded me of most is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. You cracked it? You’re good.
Yet, first opinions on movies with an underlying mystery can be misleading. They have to be judged by more than just the sum of their parts, and the final act’s revelations can recontextualise everything that has come before it. I know I enjoyed Us much more a second time around, knowing the destination and seeing how the movie gets us there. I don’t know if I will like Antebellum more a second time around or not; right now, I’m not too optimistic. I’m left with the feeling that the first and second act feel like one long first act, and that pale children in elevators have no good reason to be there. I feel like we’re missing important scenes where black ‘slaves’ aren’t so willingly subservient at first, and the consequences of that. I don’t see how finding out context like why Eden is standing on only the same floor boards repetitively would inform the entire movie on repeat viewings either.
I think Antebellum could’ve made a good limited television series; I say this a lot about disappointing movies but it’s true – fleshing out the juxtapositions of the struggles of a modern black woman and a slave, halving each episode to spend time on the southern ranch and in the city, and still maintaining the twist ending in the final few episodes if desired. But heck, what do I know – I’m a writer, not a doer. I think there is an interesting story in here, but the way the story has been cobbled together lets it down. Maybe a golden premise like this is wasted in the hands of someone other than the likes of Jordan Peele. Maybe it’s a knock on Jordan Peele that every thriller with a black historical bent feels like it needs to have a socially relevant undercurrent right now, and can’t just be. Maybe she’s born with it, or maybe Veronica’s lipstick is Maybelline. So many questions, so many questions – if I keep this up, I’ll be in a straitjacket with Jim Carey’s Riddler. Time to movie on.
2.5
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