‘Passing’ movie review: A gossamer treatment of tough, everlasting questions
The Hindu
Rebecca Hall creates a wonderful snapshot of 1920s New York, and also deftly tackle questions of gender, motherhood and more
While at first glance, Rebecca Hall’s delicately-put together directorial debut, Passing, looks like it is only about race, the second and third looks reveal it to deftly tackle questions of gender, motherhood, identity, class, sexuality and spousal jealousy.
Based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 book, Passing, the film tells the story of two women, Irene (Tessa Thompson) and Clare (Ruth Negga) who knew each other in school but lost touch as they grew up. When Irene runs into Clare at an upscale hotel in New York, a Pandora’s Box is unpacked. In the reluctant and prickly relationship between the two women, a bunch of issues come up for scrutiny. Though both Irene and Clare are light-skinned African-Americans, Irene identifies as African-American, marries black doctor Brian (André Holland) and lives in Harlem, while Clare ‘passes’ as white having married a white man, John (Alexander Skarsgård).
Though Irene can be perceived as being moral and upright and Clare as being shallow, things are not so simple. Irene is jealous of Clare’s vivacity and what she perceives as Brian and her children’s fascination for Clare. While all for equality among races, Irene has an African-American maid, Zu (Ashley Ware Jenkins), who she treats with equal measures of condescension and impatience.
The Opposition Congress demanded that the government open the Gandhi Vatika Museum, depicting Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy and freedom struggle, built at a cost of ₹85 crore in Jaipur’s Central Park last year, during the Congress-led regime in Rajasthan. The museum has not been opened to the public, reportedly because of the administration’s engagements with the State Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Almaya Munnettam (Lay People to the Fore), group in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church opposed to the synod-recommended Mass, rejected a circular issued by Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and apostolic administrator Bosco Puthur on June 9 to implement the unified Mass in the archdiocese from July 3.
Pakistan coach Gary Kirsten stated that “not so great decision making” contributed to his side’s defeat to India in the Group-A T20 World Cup clash here on Sunday. The batting unit came apart in the chase, after being well placed at 72 for two. With 48 runs needed from eight overs, Pakistan found a way to panic and lose. “Maybe not so great decision making,” Kirsten said at the post-match press conference, when asked to explain the loss.