Review of 'Exhibiting Forgiveness': artist and father reunite, with trepidation

As a distraught artist and family man forced to confront unresolved grief, the great André Holland moves through “Exhibiting Forgiveness” as someone who not only works with paint, but would prefer to immerse himself in it, like a camera. immersion, if so. It prevented his wounds from opening further.

In artist Titus Kaphar's emotionally complicated and semi-autobiographical directorial debut about pain and resilience (and, of course, creating art), we get a refreshingly insightful look at how someone can be saved by the act of creation, but baffled by its therapeutic effect. limitations. Because while the talented Tarrell (Holland) is able to avoid the nightmares that wake him up by working in his home studio, where he creates immersive and disturbing large-scale neighborhood scenes, the sudden reemergence of his estranged father La'Ron (John Earl Jelks) ) will require more than just your usual brushstroke and canvas output.

Tarrell, his singer-songwriter wife Aisha (Andra Day), and their preschool-aged son Jermaine (Daniel Berrier) head to their old place to help their feisty mother (inner-light virtuoso Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) make the suitcases for a move. But his father's unexpected appearance on the scene is, judging by the suppressed anger on Holland's face, as if someone had disfigured one of his works with a strange tone.

La'Ron, a recovering addict who feels like a changed man, wants another chance with his son. Making the ambush even more inexplicable to Tarrell is that his devoted mother is also in favor of this, despite being as much a victim of La'Ron's mayhem as Tarrell was. But his parents' armor is biblical faith, especially in the power of forgiveness, which for their son is not a panacea but rather a hypocritical ointment that ignores the root of sin and the damage it has caused.

The pivotal day of Tarrell's trauma unfolds throughout the film in extensive flashbacks, as a frightened boy (a heartbreaking Ian Foreman) discovers the extremes of his drug-using father's toxic behavior, and we see how great Jelks is as an actor. credibly the hardest. An uglier version of the broken but whole man who is now trying to make things right. What makes the impasse especially poignant is how Jelks and Holland subtly evoke how similar but different two closely related men with a brutal past can be.

For a first-time filmmaker, Kaphar confidently dives into the complications of his story, maintaining texture even when certain parts slide into melodrama. What's also encouraging is its conviction to let a scene play out through its natural emotional arc (especially the first cautious confrontation between reunited father and son) and not interfere too much with what its all-star cast can do. When Kaphar, aided by cinematographer Lachlan Milne's delicate mix of warmth and cool, adds an imaginative touch, as when Tarell has visions of his childhood self as a sad presence next to his paintings, the moment generates a poignant recognition rather than of feeling analytically indulgent. (Kaphar's paintings for the film can be seen at the Gagosian in Beverly Hills until November 2.)

But it is Holland's extraordinary portrait of the artist as a man caught between young and old, between past and future, that distinguishes “Exhibiting Forgiveness” as a film about the creative process. It's telling that at one point, after glimpsing a flashback of La'Ron's crack paraphernalia, we see Tarell, at his lowest moment, reach for his paint supplies like someone with a comforting solution in mind.

Art is constructive, while drugs annihilate and religion can be exploited. And yet, the important takeaway from “Exhibit Forgiveness” is that artistic creation is a journey, not necessarily a solution. As we watch Tarell move forward as he creates, learning what his art should be as he wrestles with the gift of compassion, we come to understand what is so aesthetically resonant about the incomplete lack of life.