Shadows on the Wall

Rob Peace

dir-scr Chiwetel Ejiofor
prd Antoine Fuqua, Alex Kurtzman, Andrea Calderwood, Rebecca Hobbs, Jenny Lumet
with Jay Will, Mary J Blige, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Camila Cabello, Mare Winningham, Michael Kelly, Curt Morlaye, Caleb Eberhardt, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Juan Castano, Benjamin Papac, Marjorie Johnson
release US 2.Aug.24
24/US 1h59

SUNDANCE FILM FEST

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This is a strong true story, full of complexities and issues that provoke thought. Although actor-filmmaker Chiwetel Ejiofor doesn't allow much nuance in the way it's written, edited and played. The dialog and voiceover narration are so on-the-nose that it's impossible to miss the properly important themes here. Still, it's finely played by a terrific cast, and the final sequence finds some hope in a bleak tale.

Living with his working-class mother (Blige), New Jersey teen Rob (Will) emerges as a science whiz. Recognising this, his teacher (Kelly) helps fund his studies at Yale. Meanwhile, Rob uses his intellect to get his father Skeet (Ejiofor) out of prison after a wrongful murder conviction. And when Skeet is diagnosed with brain cancer, Rob uses science to pay the bills, creating a super-strength weed to sell on the streets with childhood pal Tav (Morlaye). This of course jeopardises his studies, but it also gives him an idea about how to improve his dying neighbourhood.

Because Rob is portrayed as such a smart young man, it's difficult to understand why he does so many stupid and dangerous things. But then he is also a habitual drug user, undermining his own brain power. The filmmaking includes but glosses over these things, focussing on the shining light of possibility and promise, the ways Rob brings together various factions at Yale, and his driving love for his family and New Jersey community. And in the end, Ejiofor flinches away from the tragedy.

Will is terrific as the charismatic Rob, a genuinely nice guy who has the ability to change the world, but struggles to extract himself from his pre-ordained path of drugs and criminality. This idea is repeated throughout the story, leading to some strongly ironic moments later on. Will's chemistry with both Blige and Ejiofor is full of life and emotion, even in scenes that get a bit melodramatic. And side roles fill in vivid textures, with notably subtle work from Winningham as a Yale scientist.

Because of where things go, the big issues raised by Rob's life are vitally important, and the story itself is deeply moving. So even if Ejiofor takes a fairly straightforward inspiring-movie approach, it's still urgent and meaningful. But it's hard not to think that this should have been a bold, defiantly truthful movie, even if that means that it would have left us feeling devastated.

themes, language, violence 9.Jun.24 sfl

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