‘Passing’ Review: Rebecca Hall’s Subtle, Provocative Directorial Debut

Sia once cultivated a transgressive sense of mystery. A cult indie pop artist turned global pop star and songwriter, who’s written tracks such as Rihanna’s “Diamonds”, she would appear on red carpets and on stage wearing elaborate wigs that concealed her face.

Exceptional and exceptionally confident, Cathy Yan’s “Dead Pigs” is a feature debut that leaves little mystery as to what DC studio execs saw in the filmmaker before tapping her to direct “Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).” READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021 Energetically directed and sharply written, this sparkling social satire has in its sights no smaller target than the rapid-onset Westernization of China’s urban sprawl, as embodied by five

Chris Willman Music WriterThere’s a conventional truism about musicals that basically says: If they’re constructed so that you could take all the songs out and nothing about the narrative or emotional impact of the rest of the show would be at all affected, maybe you’re doing it wrong.

As she explained to us in an interview of the Deep Focus podcast, Rebecca Hall has been working a long time bringing her directorial debut, “Passing,” to life. Even though the debut was delayed due to the pandemic, the period drama finally premiered as part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Two days after picking up Sundance’s Documentary Grand Jury Prize, Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) has been picked up by Searchlight and Hulu.

Big news for Rebecca Hall!

Irene (Tessa Thompson) rarely passes for white. She fears for her safety too much to do so.

Angelique Jackson Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut already made a big splash with its Sundance Film Festival premiere — and its set to make even bigger noise as Netflix is nearing a $16 million deal for worldwide distribution rights on the film, an individual with knowledge of the deal tells Variety.Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga star in the project — written and directed by Hall and based on the 1929 novella by Nella Larsen –about racial passing in 1920s New York.More to come…

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is nearing a deal to acquire worldwide rights to Passing, the Rebecca Hall-directed and scripted drama that stars Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, Andre Holland, and Alexander Skarsgard. Sources said the deal will land just north of $15 million.

Rebecca Hall came across Nella Larsen’s novel “Passing” at a time when she was grappling with her own family history.She’d become aware that her maternal grandfather was “white passing,” and it might have gone back even further. Then someone handed her this book, from 1929, about two light-skinned Black women, Clare and Irene, who live on opposite sides of the color line.

Exquisite performances from Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga provide the pulsing, emotionally heightened center to Passing, Rebecca Hall's assured move behind the camera, adapted with great sensitivity from the 1929 novel by Harlem Renaissance author Nella Larsen. "We're all of us passing for something or other, aren't we?" muses Thompson's melancholy character Irene Redfield.

Irene (Tessa Thompson) rarely passes for white. She fears for her safety too much to do so.

The presumed dead-and-buried practice of racial passing by light-skinned blacks in the United States decades ago is returned to center-stage in Passing, a delicate, sensitive, intentionally claustrophobic and not entirely limber directorial debut from the protean British stage performer Rebecca Hall.

See Photos: 14 Buzziest Sundance Movies for Sale in 2021, From Questlove's 'Summer of Soul' to Rebecca Hall's 'Passing'As conflicted Irene, Thompson delivers her finest work to date, reminiscent of her turn in the recent period piece “Sylvie’s Love” but with greater substance.

Also Read: Jerrod Carmichael Signs Overall Exclusive Deal With 20th Century FoxWhile the day has its share of cathartic encounters — comics JB Smoove and “Carmichael Show” co-star Tiffany Haddish get dramatic moments as, respectively, Val’s abusive father and Val’s fed-up girlfriend — it also allows the friends one last chance to bond, reminisce, and pursue previous adolescent obsessions (dirt biking) and new ones (Kevin’s never used a handgun before, and he’s surprised at how much he likes it).

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorElyse Bridges lives in a glamorous house in Los Angeles, with her husband and son, where she spends most of her days lost in thought. But despite an idyllic opening shot set in a postcard suburban setting, something isn’t right in Stella Hopkins’ directorial debut, “Elyse.”The black-and-white independent movie stars Lisa Pepper in the role of the film’s title character.

Rebecca Hall discusses making the move from acting to directing, her new racial-identity movie “Passing”, and more in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

You know Rebecca Hall from her celebrated acting career, Christopher Nolan’s “The Prestige,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” “Frost/Nixon,” Nicole Holofcener’s “Please Give,” Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” Joel Edgerton’s “The Gift,” Antonio Campos’ striking indie “Christine,” Amazon’s “Tales From The Loop” and many more.