Quick Review: 12 Years A Slave (2013)

12 YEARS A SLAVE

BY CHRISTOPHER HASKELL
OCTOBER 27, 2013

There’s no getting around it, “12 Years A Slave” is an intense journey of a free man who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the 1800s. Directed by the ever incredible Steve McQueen (“Hunger” and “Shame”), the film has a rich, emotional foundation that McQueen thrives in, with lingering close-ups and uncomfortably long takes. The cinematography that accompanies his work is always impeccable. What will cause jaws to hit the floor are the performances. Chiwetel Ejiofor more than locks an Oscar nomination with his incredible performance as Solomon Northup, the free man turned slave. His inner struggles are projected masterfully on his face, and with no wasted lines, everything this man delivers is either compelling or heartbreaking.

Michael Fassbender also gives an award-worthy performance as cotton plantation owner Edwin Epps, who is ruthless with his slaves and sloppy with his drinking. His dark and tortured performance gives you chills. The balance that Fassbender finds with Epps in giving unreserved explosive deliveries mixed with a coy or solicitous demeanor makes this one of the most layered performances of the year. Add in great turns from Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, and Garrett Dillahunt, who play white men along Solomon’s journey, and you not only have the most epic drama of the year but a showcase for all these men. With devastating tones and white guilt that will be hard to shake, “12 Years A Slave” is by far the most in-depth and blatantly truthful depiction of the slavery movement in the 1800s. With a visionary director like Steve McQueen at the helm, it becomes not only an important film but also an artful film.

RELEASE DATE
October 18, 2013

DIRECTOR
Steve McQueen

WRITTEN BY
John Ridley

BASED ON
“Twelve Years a Slave”
by Solomon Northup

STUDIO
Fox Searchlight Pictures

R
(for violence/cruelty, some nudity and brief sexuality)

BIOGRAPHY
DRAMA
HISTORY
134 minutes