Director
- Denzel
Washington
Writer - Antwone Fisher
Director of photography
- Philippe Rousselot
Editor - Conrad Buff
Music - Mychael Danna
Production
designer - Nelson Coates
Producers - Todd Black, Randa Haines and
Denzel Washington
Fox Searchlight
Pictures. 117 minutes.
Rated PG-13 for some
profanity, racial insults, mild violence and sexual situations.
STARRING: Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher), Joy Bryant (Cheryl),
Denzel Washington (Jerome Davenport), Salli Richardson (Berta), Earl
Billings (James), Kevin Connolly (Slim), Yolanda Ross (Nadine) and
Novella Nelson (Mrs. Tate).
Antwone Fisher, a former Navy sailor,
penned his own memoirs and turned them into a screenplay. Now, actor and first-time
director Denzel Washington has made Fisher's story into one of the year's most highly
acclaimed films. It's a true story, but it's also the kind of story that can trip into a
sentimentality-laced formula. It is to Washington's credit that he keeps it just real
enough to move our hearts and our heads.
Talented newcomer Derek Luke plays Fisher through his years as a
reckless, temperamental sailor. Easily provoked to violence, Fisher ends up meeting
regularly with Dr. Jerome Davenport (Washington), a Navy psychologist.
Davenport's strength is his patience. He waits until Fisher can see and
admit his weakness before drawing out of him a secret history of hurt.
As Fisher grows to trust the good doctor,
and hesitantly falls in love with a beautiful young sailor (the radiant Joy Bryant), he
gains the confidence to hunt down his personal demons.
And while Davenport's
interest is in Antwone's redemption from psychological and emotional damage, this
psychologist needs some saving himself. In reaching out to a hurting young man, he
discovers that he too needs to some rehabilitation
and restoration.
Antwone Fisher is a very watchable film, thanks to the excellent work of
cinematographer Philippe Rousselot and Washington's simple, sincere storytelling. We're
also offered admirable lessons regarding fear and forgiveness. As sentimental as the
film's conclusion becomes, some of the emotions you'll likely experience there have been
well-earned by all that has gone before.
But it also lends a strange and unnecessary emphasis to the importance
of a young man losing his virginity. While Davenport encourages Fisher to exercise caution
in his new romance ("No escalating!"), later he congratulates him for sleeping
with his girlfriend as though this maneuver represents an arrival at maturity. Antwone and
Cheryl definitely look like they have what it takes for long-lasting marriage, but in a
film that places so much emphasis on family and faithfulness, this endorsement of hasty
intimacy seems irresponsible and contradictory.
Jeffrey's Rating: B
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