Just Mercy - The Poignant Star
Thoughts On: Just Mercy (2019)
A defence attorney moves to Alabama to support wrongly convicted death row felons.
Just Mercy sees Michael B. Jordan continue to develop as a star whose archetypal presence on screen is at once classical and imbued with socio-political pertinence. In his most popular performances - those captured in Black Panther and Creed - he embodies a visual spectacle weighted by what at first appears to be a political gesture, but with time, is overcome by substantial thematic discourse. In this regard, Jordan outwardly symbolises strength and power with his oily, roidy 80s physique in the Creed films whose central position in the narrative is something of an affront to the 80s action hero. Posters and trailers solidify this; Black Panther, similar to Creed, sold on the fact that this was a 'new' superhero movie representing the American black audience - in addition to inheriting a lucrative IP that is. But, despite the politicised spectacle that formulates the facade of these movies, Black Panther and Creed - in my books most certainly - are good movies built on the foundation of solid story telling. And, in both instances, I see the strength of story stemming from the developing B. Jordan star or archetype. In Black Panther, the thematic complexity, a debate of extreme pan-Africanism positioned within a classical narrative of kings and their ascension, is centred on the B. Jordan's 'bad guy': one of the most rounded and compelling, many would say, ever created by Marvel. In Creed, the romanticism of the first two Rocky films is reignited to astounding effect via the pathos that Jordan evokes as the titular character. Both characters have their many dimensions, ticking boxes for the audience member sold by trailers and posters and the audience member who wants to be moved. Just Mercy takes this quality and puts it back into a less melodramatic success similar, in its storytelling, to Fruitvale Station.
Just Mercy has no oil, no spit and no blood, but Jordan's star aura remains in tact; not only did I sense this myself, but the crowd of young women who sat around me in the cinema also thought Jordan was cute - which was maybe a big part of the reason they had bought their tickets. But, of course, I didn't enter Just Mercy for the implied spectacle of a romantic hero. And that is certainly not all the crowd of young women were stunned by as they left the cinema wiping tears from their faces. The bottom line is, Jordan is a powerful presence on any screen. With his presence motivated by a strong story that pulls and pushes the emotion in your body, this efficiently translates into a poignant film. This occurs on the basis that his aura lends any film an archetypal, unconsciously evocative quality that harmonises with and balances out the political consciousness of narrative by uplifting the symbolic, primordial material of story before the spectator's senses, grounding reason in emotion and experience in sensation. With Jordan, as he did so well with Brie Larson in Short Term 12, director Destin Daniel Cretton achieves much in this film. Not only does he successfully translate a solid script (and adaptation) to the screen, but cultivates an intimate and sharp experience through crisp cinematography - Cretton notably teams up with cinematographer, Brett Pawlak again. The shallow focus, in particular, used in the requisite court room monologues provides an intensity that is not at all contrived, and not at all dependent on a loud performance and piece of writing. Image and sound work together throughout Just Mercy to subtly build emotion and reach out to the audience - a certain sign of a maturing director worth watching out for.
In the end, Just Mercy is a strong film with much weight. Its performances are all good, but Michael B. Jordan seems to make this something special. Just Mercy may not be intricate and complex, but it is a direct and poignant work of note that is well worth seeing.
A defence attorney moves to Alabama to support wrongly convicted death row felons.
Just Mercy sees Michael B. Jordan continue to develop as a star whose archetypal presence on screen is at once classical and imbued with socio-political pertinence. In his most popular performances - those captured in Black Panther and Creed - he embodies a visual spectacle weighted by what at first appears to be a political gesture, but with time, is overcome by substantial thematic discourse. In this regard, Jordan outwardly symbolises strength and power with his oily, roidy 80s physique in the Creed films whose central position in the narrative is something of an affront to the 80s action hero. Posters and trailers solidify this; Black Panther, similar to Creed, sold on the fact that this was a 'new' superhero movie representing the American black audience - in addition to inheriting a lucrative IP that is. But, despite the politicised spectacle that formulates the facade of these movies, Black Panther and Creed - in my books most certainly - are good movies built on the foundation of solid story telling. And, in both instances, I see the strength of story stemming from the developing B. Jordan star or archetype. In Black Panther, the thematic complexity, a debate of extreme pan-Africanism positioned within a classical narrative of kings and their ascension, is centred on the B. Jordan's 'bad guy': one of the most rounded and compelling, many would say, ever created by Marvel. In Creed, the romanticism of the first two Rocky films is reignited to astounding effect via the pathos that Jordan evokes as the titular character. Both characters have their many dimensions, ticking boxes for the audience member sold by trailers and posters and the audience member who wants to be moved. Just Mercy takes this quality and puts it back into a less melodramatic success similar, in its storytelling, to Fruitvale Station.
Just Mercy has no oil, no spit and no blood, but Jordan's star aura remains in tact; not only did I sense this myself, but the crowd of young women who sat around me in the cinema also thought Jordan was cute - which was maybe a big part of the reason they had bought their tickets. But, of course, I didn't enter Just Mercy for the implied spectacle of a romantic hero. And that is certainly not all the crowd of young women were stunned by as they left the cinema wiping tears from their faces. The bottom line is, Jordan is a powerful presence on any screen. With his presence motivated by a strong story that pulls and pushes the emotion in your body, this efficiently translates into a poignant film. This occurs on the basis that his aura lends any film an archetypal, unconsciously evocative quality that harmonises with and balances out the political consciousness of narrative by uplifting the symbolic, primordial material of story before the spectator's senses, grounding reason in emotion and experience in sensation. With Jordan, as he did so well with Brie Larson in Short Term 12, director Destin Daniel Cretton achieves much in this film. Not only does he successfully translate a solid script (and adaptation) to the screen, but cultivates an intimate and sharp experience through crisp cinematography - Cretton notably teams up with cinematographer, Brett Pawlak again. The shallow focus, in particular, used in the requisite court room monologues provides an intensity that is not at all contrived, and not at all dependent on a loud performance and piece of writing. Image and sound work together throughout Just Mercy to subtly build emotion and reach out to the audience - a certain sign of a maturing director worth watching out for.
In the end, Just Mercy is a strong film with much weight. Its performances are all good, but Michael B. Jordan seems to make this something special. Just Mercy may not be intricate and complex, but it is a direct and poignant work of note that is well worth seeing.
