Antebellum (film)

Antebellum is a 2020 American thriller film[5][6] written and directed by Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz in their feature directorial debuts. The film stars Janelle Monáe, Eric Lange, Jena Malone, Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons, and Gabourey Sidibe, and follows a modern-day African-American woman who finds herself in a Southern slave plantation and must escape.

Antebellum
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
  • Gerard Bush
  • Christopher Renz
Produced by
  • Raymond Mansfield
  • Sean McKittrick
  • Zev Forman
  • Gerard Bush
  • Christopher Renz
  • Lezlie Wills
Written by
  • Gerard Bush
  • Christopher Renz
Starring
Music by
  • Nate Wonder
  • Roman Gianarthur
CinematographyPedro Luque
Edited byJohn Axelrad
Production
company
  • QC Entertainment
  • Bush+Renz
Distributed byLionsgate Films
Release date
  • September 18, 2020 (2020-09-18) (United States)
Running time
106 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10 million[2]
Box office$6.9 million[3][4]

Antebellum was released in the United States through premium video on demand on September 18, 2020, and theatrically in several other countries. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who felt it did not live up to the premise's full potential.

Plot

In a Louisiana slave plantation run by Confederate soldiers, slaves are treated harshly and not allowed to speak without permission. Those who attempt to escape are killed and their bodies burned in a crematorium. After a failed escape attempt, a black man named Eli watches as his wife is murdered and her body placed in the crematorium. A woman who had been assisting them is later brutally beaten and branded until she submits to being called Eden.

A group of new slaves is brought to the plantation. Among them is a pregnant woman whom the daughter of the plantation owner, Elizabeth, names Julia and places in the care of Eden. Julia asks Eden to plan an escape while Eden urges her to keep her head down. That evening, during a dinner where Julia and Eden are forced to wait on soldiers in the army, a shy Confederate soldier named Daniel is attracted to Julia and arranges to go to her cabin later. When Julia tries to play on his kindness and asks him to help her he beats her for speaking to him without permission, causing her to miscarry.

In her cabin, after being raped by the general, Eden hears a ringing cell phone. In the modern era, a cell phone rings, awakening Eden, who is actually Dr. Veronica Henley, a renowned sociologist. She is preparing to take a trip to speak and promote her book, which is particularly hard for her because she has to leave her loving husband, Nick, and her daughter, Kennedi. She has a bizarre online meeting with Elizabeth which leaves her uncomfortable but she dismisses her feelings and cuts the meeting short.

While in Louisiana on her book tour, she meets her friends Dawn and Sarah and agrees to go to dinner with them to a local restaurant. In the meantime Elizabeth sneaks into her hotel room and steals her lipstick. Intending to go back home early in the morning, Veronica leaves the restaurant in what she believes is her Uber ride but is actually a car driven by Elizabeth. Elizabeth's husband, Jasper, knocks Veronica out.

At the plantation, Veronica discovers that Julia has died by suicide, hanging herself. Enraged, she tells Eli that they will escape that night. The following evening, after being raped by the general, she once again sneaks out of her cabin and steals the general's phone. Before she can call for help, she is interrupted by an intoxicated Daniel and his friend who find the phone but are not suspicious, believing it dropped out of the general's bag.

When he is alone, Eli kills Daniel with a hatchet and retrieves the cellphone. As the phone can only be unlocked with facial recognition, Veronica goes back to the cabin to find the general and is surprised to find he is awake; the general attacks both of them, and Eli is subsequently killed trying to protect Veronica. She stabs the general with his own bayonet and unlocks the phone, then uses GPS to send her location to her husband. Intending to hide the general in the crematorium, she is interrupted by Jasper. Veronica lures him and another guard into the crematorium and sets fire to it, leaving the three men to burn to death as she steals the general's horse and rides off.

Elizabeth pursues Veronica on horseback and reveals that she handpicked every slave on the plantation except for Veronica, whom she kidnapped at her father's insistence. Veronica knocks Elizabeth off her horse and puts a rope around her neck, dragging her until she hits the base of a Robert E. Lee statue, thereby breaking her neck.

Veronica flees the pursuing soldiers into the chaos of a battle, revealing that the so-called plantation is actually part of an Civil War reenactment park, Antebellum, owned by the general, Senator Blake Denton. Denton and his comrades intended to use the park to recreate an environment to bring back the slavery days using African victims. Veronica finally escapes as the police arrive.

Cast

Production

In March 2019, it was announced Janelle Monáe had joined the cast of the film, with Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz directing from a screenplay they wrote. Ray Mansfield and Sean McKittrick (the producer of Get Out (2017) and Us (2019) as advertised) serve as producers on the film under their QC Entertainment banner, and Lionsgate are distributors.[7] In April 2019, Eric Lange, Jena Malone, Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons, Tongayi Chirisa, Gabourey Sidibe, Robert Aramayo and Lily Cowles joined the cast of the film.[8] In May 2019, Marque Richardson joined the cast of the film.[9]

Principal photography began in May 2019.[10]

Release

Antebellum was released through video on demand in the United States on September 18, 2020, while still playing in theaters in select countries.[11] This includes a theatrical release in Australia on October 1, 2020.[12] The film was originally scheduled to be released on April 24, 2020, but was pulled off the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic, then was rescheduled to August 21, 2020, before being pulled off the release schedule again in July 2020.[13][14][15]

Reception

VOD rentals

In its debut weekend, Antebellum was the number one most rented title across film and television on Amazon Prime Video, and number one rented film on FandangoNow and Apple TV, and third on Google Play. IndieWire estimated that if about 500,000 homes rented the film, it would result in $8 million for the studio.[2] In its second weekend the film topped the Amazon Prime Video, FandangoNow and Spectrum film charts, while finishing second at Google Play and sixth at Apple TV, and remained in the top three across most platforms in its third weekend.[16][17] In October 2020, The Hollywood Reporter said the film was the sixth-most popular PVOD title amid the COVID-19 pandemic.[18]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 28% based on 171 reviews, with an average rating of 4.70/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Antebellum fails to connect its images with any meaning, making for a largely unpleasant experience lacking any substantial scares."[19] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[20]

Peter Debruge from Variety called it "A mind blowing thriller".[21] Stephanie Zacharek of Time wrote "Even if we didn't live in a country where a shockingly large fraction of people think Confederate monuments are A-O.K., Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz's Antebellum would resonate like the boom of a Union Army cannon".[22] David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a "C+" and wrote, "An artful and provocative movie about the enduring horror of America's original sin, Antebellum can't follow through on its own concept."[23] Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Jourdain Searles said the film was "more interested in making a point than digging deep" and "In the end, Antebellum is undone by a lack of empathy and emotion. It has no real perspective on the past and thus fails to make any real impact on the present."[24]

Accolades

Peter Debruge included the film on his list of "best films of 2020" for Variety, praising its cinematic quality, effective storytelling and social relevancy.[25]

Year Award Category Recipients Result Ref.
2020 Sunset Film Circle Awards Scene Stealer Gabourey Sidibe Nominated [26]
2021 HNiD Awards Best Film N/A Runner-up [27]
Best Director Gerard Bush, Christopher Renz 3rd place
Best Screenplay Gerard Bush, Christopher Renz Write-in
Best Supporting Actress Jena Malone Runner-up
Best Production Design Jeremy Woodward 3rd place
Best Costume Design Mary Zophres Runner-up
Most Underappreciated Movie of a Year N/A Won
Best Movie on Demand (VOD release) N/A Won
NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Gabourey Sidibe Pending [28]
Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture Janelle Monae Pending

References
  1. "Antebellum (15)". British Board of Film Classification. April 14, 2020. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  2. Brueggemann, Tom (September 21, 2020). "'Antebellum' Immediate #1 on VOD Charts While RBG Films Soar on Apple TV". IndieWire. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  3. "Antebellum (2020)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  4. "Antebellum (2020) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  5. Kreps, Daniel (August 6, 2020). "Janelle Monáe Time-Travel Thriller 'Antebellum' Headed Straight to VOD". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  6. Lowry, Brain (September 17, 2020). "Janelle Monae stars in a thriller with a 'Get Out' vibe that doesn't live up to its twist". CNN. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  7. D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 21, 2019). "Janelle Monáe To Star In Lionsgate Pic From Filmmakers Gerard Bush + Christopher Renz". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  8. Wiseman, Andreas (April 16, 2019). "Eric Lange, Jena Malone, Jack Huston, More Join Janelle Monáe In Lionsgate Race Relations Pic From 'Get Out' & 'BlacKkKlansman' Outfit QC Entertainment". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 3, 2020. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  9. N'Duka, Amanda (May 17, 2019). "Marque Richardson Joins Janelle Monáe In Lionsgate Film From 'Get Out' Producers". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  10. Renz, Christopher (May 8, 2019). "Day 1". Instagram. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  11. D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 6, 2020). "Janelle Monáe Horror Movie 'Antebellum' Skips U.S. Theaters & Heads To PVOD". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
  12. "Antebellum - to Cinemas October 1 - Roadshow". Village Roadshow. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  13. Sneider, Jeff (March 17, 2020). "Lionsgate Delays Chris Rock's 'Saw' Movie, Janelle Monae's 'Antebellum'". Collider. Archived from the original on March 18, 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  14. McNary, Dave (May 1, 2020). "Janelle Monae's Horror Film 'Antebellum' Sets August Release Date". Variety. Archived from the original on May 1, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  15. D'Alessandro, Anthony (2020-07-31). "Lionsgate Takes Janelle Monáe Horror Movie 'Antebellum' Off Calendar Temporarily". Deadline. Archived from the original on 2020-12-25. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  16. Brueggemann, Tom (September 28, 2020). "'Ava' Joins 'Antebellum' Atop VOD Charts While 'Enola Holmes' Rules at Netflix". IndieWire. Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  17. Brueggemann, Tom (October 5, 2020). "'Ava' Takes Over as the Top VOD Choice, with Thriller 'Alone' Still Strong". IndieWire. Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  18. Pamela McClintock (October 23, 2020). "Skipping Theaters? Hollywood Studios Weigh Risks of PVOD". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
  19. "Antebellum (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  20. "Antebellum Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  21. Debruge, Peter (31 August 2020). "'Antebellum' Review: Janelle Monáe Stands Up to the Horrors of Slavery in Mind-Blowing Thriller". Variety. Archived from the original on 25 December 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  22. Zacharek, Stephanie (18 September 2020). "Janelle Monáe Is Electrifying in Antebellum". Time. Archived from the original on 2020-12-25. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  23. Ehrlich, David (August 31, 2020). "'Antebellum' Review: Janelle Monáe's American Horror Story Trips on Its Own Wild Twists". IndieWire. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  24. Jourdain Searles (August 31, 2020). "'Antebellum': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  25. Gleiberman; Debruge, Peter (8 December 2020). "The Best Films of 2020". Variety (magazine). Archived from the original on 25 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  26. Neglia, Matt (November 24, 2020). "The 2020 Sunset Film Critics Circle Award Nominations (SFCC)". The Next Best Picture. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  27. Nowicki, Albert (January 11, 2021). "Druga edycja nagród HNiD". His Name is Death (in Polish). Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  28. "Viola Davis, Tyler Perry and Regina King Up for Entertainer of the Year at 2021 NAACP Image Awards". variety.com. February 2, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
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