Review: Black, white and shades of gray in superb 'Passing'

Actor Rebecca Hall makes a hugely impressive directorial debut with “Passing,” a film that's shot in gorgeous black and white but is all about shades of gray

Rarely have the hues of black and white, cinematographically speaking, looked so beautifully lush as in “Passing,” the hugely impressive directorial debut of actor Rebecca Hall.

But at its core, this film is about shades of gray.

Which is to say, motivations, desires and ambitions are even more layered and textured than the visuals in this quietly compelling film, which takes place in Prohibition-era New York and explores ideas of race, identity and the toxic ripples of a painful lie.

Adapted by Hall from the 1929 Nella Larsen novel of the same name, “Passing” looks at two sides of the racial divide through a pair of women, childhood friends who have a chance meeting years later. The women, played by the extraordinary duo of Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson, are Black, but they have made drastically different choices: One lives as Black, the other is “passing” as white.