"Clemency" Review - Processing a Killer

In the awards season, there’s always one or two movies that get glanced over by voters. Sometimes it’s not the film’s though, but the studio for not doing enough to promote it, and it is flat out disgraceful that a film that won the Grand Jury award at Sundance is getting nearly zero attention for it’s work on highlighting the horrors death row takes on people from both the inside and the outside.

“Clemency” isn’t based on a true story, but it sure could fool people If you asked a viewer if they thought it was. However true it may be in the USA, it’s one of the most unique original ideas to come to the cinema in 2019. “Clemency” takes on a smart, horrifying, yet effective path to highlight people who are put to death by analyzing the person who manages it all, played by hell of an actress, Alfre Woodward, whom my generation might know from Luke Cage. The psychological tolls it takes on her character as well as Aldis Hodge’s and Danielle Brooks’ characters is hard to watch, but important to see and thankfully through a beautifully directed lens, makes it hard to look away from. The whole story is a giant character study, so it may seem slow at some points, but the acting and the writing itself is such A+ work that it will keep you interested and eager to see more, even after the final shot. It may even change how you feel about capital punishment, but that’s a discussion out of my jurisdiction.

It’s a shame that “Clemency” is not getting recognized more, as not only is it important and groundbreaking, but it’s something people will be blown away by even if it may spill lots of feelings out of your heart. It may not be best picture material, but it is such a travesty that it might not even get nominated.

Two Nebs Up!