To “forgive” is a squirmy idea, as it means so many different things to different people, and there’s not necessarily an endpoint when “forgiveness” is achieved and we can point to the time before and the time after. This complexity is difficult to convey in a movie, which often wants something dramatic to happen and for there to be an endpoint, because, well, the movie has to end. And I’m not sure this is all fully explored in Exhibiting Forgiveness, but the film is sincere, with yet another exquisite performance by André Holland.
The movie is directed by the artist Titus Kaphar, whose own paintings are seen in the film as the work of Holland’s character Tarell. As the movie begins, Tarell is just being talked into having a new show by his agent, and he’s also trying to move his mother from her home to a place closer to him, with the drama of the film set in motion as he and his family head to his mother’s house, his childhood home, to pack her up. Tarell’s abusive, formerly drug-addicted father La’Ron has resurfaced, and Tarell’s mother has hopes the two men can reconcile. Tarell understandably has no interest in this, despite his mother’s insistence that his father has changed, and that forgiveness is a holy calling.
Much of the rest of the film takes place in this struggle, as La’Ron wants to know his son again, Tarell’s pain comes to the forefront and storms inside him, and we roll around the idea of forgiveness. Holland commands the screen at every moment and it’s kind of thrilling to watch him in his work as a painter, so much so that I wish we had seen a whole lot more of it. Kaphar’s movie is gorgeous to look at, though he’s never fully clear about what he’s trying to tell us. But, as I mentioned, this is already very unclear business, and Kaphar’s difficulty in fully articulating what he wants to say may be because he’s still working it all out himself. These are really, really tough things to figure out, and, yes, it’s all a process.
Exhibiting Forgiveness is in theaters October 18th.
