Widows (2018)- BFI London Film Festival 2018

Review

129min

Genre:       Crime, Drama, Thriller

Director:    Steve McQueen

Cast:         Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell…and more

Writers:     Steve McQueen, Gillian Flynn and Lynda La Plante

-Synopsis-

When their husbands pay the ultimate price for a life of crime and leave them with debts to dangerous people, a group of disparate Chicago widows form their own crew and take matters into their own hands, following in their partners’ footsteps to protect their families, only to get caught in the crime and politics of a city where the two mix like oil and more oil.

Oscar-winning producer/writer/director Steve McQueen has lived quite the storied cinematic life over the last decade or so, from his beginnings as a celebrated visual artist and a transition into feature films, to his Academy Award triumph and the BFI fellowship in 2016, capturing the imagination of critics and audiences alike along the way with bold, beautiful and harrowing human dramas like ‘Hunger’ and ’12 Years a Slave’.

Now the London filmmaker focuses his keen eye on the American heist thriller, turning to 1980’s British TV series ‘Widows’ and its source novel by Lynda La Plante, and recruiting ‘Gone Girl’ author/screenwriter Gillian Flynn to help adapt it. Together they craft a taut contemporary crime thriller and socially perceptive character drama, painting a sobering portrait of a city and a country with an identity crisis—and underpinning it all with a timely story of female emancipation.

Viola Davis stars as recently widowed ‘Veronica Rawlings’, still reeling from the death of her husband ‘Harry’ (Liam Neeson) and his crew after a heist gone wrong, and left with huge debts to ‘Jamal Manning’ (Brian Tyree Henry), a dangerous local gangster with political aspirations to take on the powerful ‘Mulligan’ family, and their latest prospective district alderman ‘Jack’ (Colin Farrell). But when Veronica recruits her fellow widows ‘Alice’ (Elizabeth Debicki), ‘Linda’ (Michelle Rodriguez) and crew ringer ‘Bell’ (Cynthia Erivo) to pull off her late husband’s final would-be score, these determined ladies get sucked into the city’s murky power games, and a conspiracy which will test their resolve to break free.

Fuelled by the social change ripping through Hollywood and Western society over the last year or so, ‘Widows’ is a crime drama and heist thriller with a clear message—female empowerment. Taking the themes established by the novel’s author La Plante and explored in the 80s TV show, McQueen and Flynn throw everything into the turmoil of modern day Chicago, a city defined by corruption and drowning in street violence. To this they add a layer of 21st century dynamism and grit, not skimping on jolting and graphic violence when necessary, but keeping the narrative balance leaning towards crime drama rather than crime thriller—despite the brief but supremely tense final score.

Yet ‘Widows’ is no all-female, trend-surfing movie vehicle, eulogising women while paying underwritten and over-stylised lip service to equality and female empowerment. McQueen and Flynn are careful to balance the hope and despair of the real world, delivering a grounded narrative which remains honest and maintains a sombre tone, revealing a gritty and unadorned urban human drama where the sobering realities of life hit hard . . . and these women are forced to hit back.

Regular McQueen collaborator Sean Bobbitt (Hunger, 12 Years a Slave) gives the film a slick and naturalistic modern look with echoes of Michael Mann, using plenty of natural light during the day and harsh artificial ones at night, meanwhile maestro Hans Zimmer provides the film’s tone with one of his more subtle, less dramatic and thematic scores.

‘Widows‘ also gives Steve McQueen his first real chance to prove his chops for crafting action and spectacle, as he weaves together a couple of brief but ultra-tense heist scenes and chases, while delivering the occasional bit of graphic violence, usually delivered by Daniel Kaluuya as the sadistic younger brother of this district’s prospective first black alderman.

Ultimately though ‘Widows’ is an ensemble character drama which depends on the efforts of its cast, led by the always formidable Viola Davis in survival mode, as the stoic widow trying to dig herself out of the whole dug by her husband, toiling to free herself of his legacy. She’s ably supported by an eclectic selection of female co-stars, with Elizabeth Debicki catching they eye as Polish-American widow ‘Alice’, struggling to escape from under the thumb of abusive and exploitative men. Meanwhile the boys all do their part too, with Colin Farrell and the Robert Duvall shinning as the father and son colliding at the head of an influential Chicago family and local political dynasty.

Yet despite its qualities as an expertly made contemporary piece, ‘Windows’ doesn’t have the impact or produce the emotional alchemy of previous Steve McQueen films. Leaving aside a major plot twist—which echoes the source material but renders a major character toothless and nothing more than a soundboard for emancipation—this particular human drama doesn’t have the harrowing gut-punch or haunting beauty of his work to date.

When you add the fact that it doesn’t have the crime drama or heist thriller credentials of something like ‘Heat’, it doesn’t quite measure up to some of the classics. But ‘Widows’ is a very different type of crime movie, a concoction of elements which make it more than a well crafted drama or the sum of its parts. By injecting a subtle but forceful cry for women to be heard and seen, and a social conscience that’s ‘woke’ and ripped from the headlines, McQueen has made compelling contemporary drama here. . . and added another successful string to his cinematic bow.

The Bottom Line…

An expertly crafted and socially perceptive contemporary crime drama, ‘Widows’ echoes like a sober cry for female emancipation. Although it won’t bother the top of the genre’s long list of classics, and doesn’t quite make a mark like the director’s previous films, Steve McQueen’s latest stokes more than enough emotion and peril to grab the audience from the start to the finish of a compelling human drama and sisterhood tale . . . that’s utterly of its time.

‘Widows’ is out on the 6th of November in the UK, and on the 16th of November in selected US cinemas.

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