In 1950s Pittsburgh, Troy Maxson lives in a modest house with his wife, Rose, and their teenage son, Cory. He works as a garbage collector alongside his best friend, Jim Bono, whom he has known for decades. Troy left home at 14 after standing up to his abusive father, becoming a robber to survive on his own. While serving time for killing a man during a robbery, he met Bono and showed himself to be a talented baseball player. He played well in the Negro leagues, but never made it to the major leagues because the color barrier was not broken until he was past his prime. A gifted storyteller, Troy claims to have survived near-fatal pneumonia as a young man by defeating Death in a wrestling match.
Troy's younger brother, Gabriel, sustained a head injury in World War II that left him mentally impaired, and Troy used the $3,000 government payout that Gabe received as the down payment for his house. As Gabriel recently moved out to rent a room elsewhere, Troy no longer gets rent money from Gabriel and is under increased financial strain. Gabriel sometimes gets in trouble with the law for his erratic behavior, so Rose suggests to Troy that Gabriel might be better off residing in a psychiatric hospital. Lyons, Troy's son from a previous relationship, visits Troy on payday to borrow money, which upsets Troy, as he believes a man has a responsibility to work hard to find his own way and provide for his family.
Rose tells Troy that Cory is being scouted by a college football team, but Troy refuses to sign the paperwork, saying he does not want Cory to pursue a career in athletics, only to be held back due to discrimination, like he did. The father and son have a distant relationship, seemingly doing little together other than building a fence around the backyard for Rose on Saturdays. When he discovers Cory has switched from a weekday-evening to a weekend shift at the A&P because of football practice, Troy demands that he switch back. He later finds out that Cory did not return to the job, so he tells the football coach that Cory is no longer allowed to play. Cory lashes out, throwing his helmet at Troy, and Troy warns his son that this is "strike one".
After complaining about his company's racist employment practices, Troy is promoted to a garbage truck driver, becoming the first African-American to do so in Pittsburgh. Bono suspects that Troy is cheating on Rose with Alberta, a woman he met at Taylor's bar, and encourages him to break it off. Troy repeatedly denies the affair, only admitting it to Bono and then Rose after he has gotten Alberta pregnant. He and Rose argue, and, when he aggressively grabs Rose's arm, Cory pushes him away, giving him "strike two".
Troy and Rose continue to live in the same house, but are estranged. Gabriel is sent to live in a hospital. Alberta dies during childbirth, greatly upsetting Troy, who yells to Death that their fight is just between the two of them. He brings the baby, Raynell, home, and Rose agrees to raise the girl as her own, but refuses to accept Troy back into her life.
Cory is considering enlisting in the Marines, having missed his opportunity to attend college. One day, when he returns home, an intoxicated and bitter Troy blocks his path and instigates a fight. When Cory swings a baseball bat at Troy, Troy overpowers Cory and kicks him out of the house. Disoriented, Troy once again challenges Death to come for him.
Six years later, Troy dies of a heart attack. Cory, now a corporal in the Marines, returns home, but informs Rose that he has decided not to go to the funeral. Rose is upset and says that, while Troy had many flaws, he tried to do the best he could as a father. Cory reconsiders after sharing memories of Troy with Raynell, who he has not seen since she was a baby. Lyons is serving time in prison for forgery, but gets a furlough to attend the funeral, and Gabriel is released from the hospital as well. Before departing for the cemetery, Gabriel says it is time to tell Saint Peter to open the gates of Heaven for Troy. In the backyard, he attempts to play his trumpet, failing at first, but succeeding on his third try. The Sun comes out from behind the clouds and shines on Troy's family.
The film was adapted from August Wilson's play Fences. It was released over a decade after Wilson's death in 2005.[3]
Previous attempts to adapt Fences for the screen had been fruitless, partly due to Wilson's insistence on an African-American director.[4] In a 2013 interview with Empire, Denzel Washington expressed his intention to star in and direct an adaptation of Fences, reprising his Tony Award-winning performance from the 2010 Broadway revival of the play, which was produced by Scott Rudin.[5]
On January 28, 2016, it was reported that Rudin, Washington, and Todd Black would produce a film adaptation of the play, directed by Washington and starring Washington and Viola Davis, who had also won a Tony for her performance in the 2010 revival of the play.[6] Playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner came aboard to build on a draft written by Wilson before his death.[7] However, Wilson is the only credited screenwriter of the film,[8] while Kushner received a co-producer credit. Black explained that Washington insisted they remain faithful to Wilson's work, saying: "The star of the movie is the screenplay and August Wilson's words. What Denzel said to me, to Scott, to all the actors, the cinematographer, and the production designer was, 'Don't make any decision without August Wilson's words leading you to make that decision.' Whatever you do, let the words inform your decision first. That's what we all had to abide by."[9] Washington also said: "August Wilson wrote a masterpiece. It works on the stage and it works on film. I was determined; I had decided. I was going to film what he wrote. There are a lot of different versions of it, and I had to work through this and that, and boil it back down to what he wrote."[10]
Fences grossed $57.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $6.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $64.4 million.[2]
The film was expected to bring in $50–75,000 per theater over its limited opening weekend at five theaters in New York and Los Angeles; it ended up grossing a total of $128,000, for a per-theater average of $32,000.[28] It earned $6.7 million the first day of its wide release in 2,223 theaters, and $11.5 million over its first two days.[29] Over its first full weekend in wide release (it opened wide on Christmas, which was a Sunday), the film made $10 million, finishing 6th at the box office.[30]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 273 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10.The website's consensus reads: "From its reunited Broadway stars to its screenplay, the solidly crafted Fences finds its Pulitzer-winning source material fundamentally unchanged — and still just as powerful."[31]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 79 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[32] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[33]
A. O. Scott of The New York Times stated, "But even as it properly foregrounds Wilson's dialogue — few playwrights have approached his genius for turning workaday vernacular into poetry — Fences is much more than a filmed reading. […] If the sound were to suddenly fail — or if the dialogue were dubbed into Martian — the impact of the performances would still be palpable."[34]Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times highlighted Davis' performance, commenting that "When the camera is on her no one will be wanting to look elsewhere. Davis' delivery of Fences' signature speech about her own hopes and dreams is flat-out extraordinary."[35]
Ty Burr of The Boston Globe wrote, "You don't get groundbreaking cinema from Fences, but what you do get – two titanic performances and an immeasurable American drama – makes up for that."[36] Catherine Shoard of The Guardian gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and praised the performances of Washington and Davis, titling her review: "Denzel Washington and Viola Davis set to convert Tonys to Oscars".[37] Terrl White of Empire gave the film a full 5 stars, calling it "A simply extraordinary film without crashes, bangs and wallops but full of towering performances delivered with intelligence, power and heart."[38]Owen Gleiberman of Variety also gave a positive review that praised the performances, writing: "The acting is all superb."[39]
In a negative review, David Edelstein of New York Magazine opined, "The movie is pitched in an unfortunate place. It's not cinematic enough to make you forget you're watching something conceived for another, more spatially constricted medium, but it's too cinematic to capture the intensity, the concentration, of a great theatrical event."[40]
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, producer, and director. Known for his work spanning over four decades of screen and stage, he has been regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, with The New York Times naming him the greatest actor of the 21st century in 2020. Washington has received a number of honors, including two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, three Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Cecil B. DeMille Award and AFI Life Achievement Award, and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards.
August Wilson was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of 10 plays, collectively called The Pittsburgh Cycle, which chronicle the experiences and heritage of the African-American community in the 20th century. Plays in the series include Fences (1987) and The Piano Lesson (1990), both of which won Wilson the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984) and Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1988). In 2006, Wilson was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Anthony Robert Kushner is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Among his stage work, he is most known for Angels in America, which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, as well as its subsequent acclaimed HBO miniseries of the same name. At the turn of the 21st century, he became known for his numerous film collaborations with Steven Spielberg. He received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013. Kushner is among the few playwrights in history nominated for an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award.
Mykelti Williamson is an American actor best known for his roles in the films Forrest Gump, 12 Angry Men (1997), Con Air, and Ali, and the television shows Boomtown, 24, and Justified. In 2016, he portrayed Gabriel Maxson in Denzel Washington's acclaimed film adaptation of August Wilson's play Fences, reprising his role from the 2010 Broadway revival.
Fences is a 1985 play by the American playwright August Wilson. Set in the 1950s, it is the sixth in Wilson's ten-part "Pittsburgh Cycle". Like all of the "Pittsburgh" plays, Fences explores the evolving African-American experience and examines race relations, among other themes. The play won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play. Fences was first developed at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 1983 National Playwrights Conference and premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre in 1985.
The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actors for quality leading roles in a Broadway play. The awards are named after Antoinette Perry, an American actress who died in 1946.
Ronald Ellis Canada is an American actor and producer, with a specialty in portraying judges and detectives. He is best known for One on One (2001–2004), The Shield (2003–2004), and Lone Star (1996).
Viola Davis is an American actress and film producer. Known for her work across screen and stage, her accolades include both the Triple Crown of Acting and the EGOT. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2017. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her ninth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century.
Kenny Leon is an American actor, director and producer. He is notable for his extensive work on Broadway, on television, and in regional theater. He has received a Tony Award and a Drama League Award as well as nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards and a Drama Desk Award.
The Detroit Film Critics Society is a film critic organization based in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 2007, and comprises a group of over twenty film critics. To become a member, the critic must have reviewed at least twelve films a year in an established publication, with no more than two different critics per publication admitted. It presents annual awards at the end of the year, for the best films of the preceding year.
Denzel Washington is an American actor known for his performance on stage and screen. Washington made his feature film debut in Carbon Copy (1981). In 1982, Washington made his first appearance in the medical drama St. Elsewhere as Dr. Philip Chandler. The role proved to be the breakthrough in his career. He starred as Private First Class Melvin Peterson in the drama A Soldier's Story (1984). The film was an adaptation of the Off-Broadway play A Soldier's Play (1981–1983) in which Washington had earlier portrayed the same character.
Jovan Adepo is a British-American actor. He made his feature film debut in the period drama Fences (2016), which was followed by roles in the psychological horror film Mother! (2017), the action horror film Overlord (2018), the period comedy-drama Babylon (2022), and the drama His Three Daughters (2023).
Saniyya Sidney is an American actress. Her accolades include nominations for three Black Reel Awards, two Critics' Choice Awards, an NAACP Image Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The 15th Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards were announced on December 5, 2016.
The 2016 African-American Film Critics Association Awards were announced on December 13, 2016, while the ceremony took place on February 8, 2017 at Taglyan Complex, in Hollywood, California.
The nominations for the 17th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2016, were announced on December 16, 2016. Manchester by the Sea led with six nominations, when Moonlight with four and La La Land with three nominations.
Viola Davis is an American actress and producer who has appeared in film, television, and on stage. She received her equity card with her stage debut in 1988 with August Wilson's The Pittsburgh Cycle play Joe Turner's Come and Gone production of Trinity Repertory Company. After graduating from Juilliard School in 1993, Davis went on to perform several roles on stage in the 1990s, earning Theater World Award for her role in Seven Guitars (1996). In the same year, Davis guest-starred in the procedural drama series NYPD Blue, and made her film debut with a brief one-day role alongside Timothy Hutton in The Substance of Fire. In 1998, she appeared in Richard Benjamin's television movie The Pentagon Wars, and Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight, before returning to the stage with an Obie Award winning titular performance in Off-Broadway Everybody's Ruby (1999).
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a 2020 American drama film directed by George C. Wolfe and written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, based on the 1982 play of the same name by August Wilson. The film stars Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, and Michael Potts. Inspired by the career of Ma Rainey, an influential blues singer and the title character, the film dramatizes a turbulent recording session in 1920s Chicago.
↑ Mendelson, Scott (December 26, 2016). "Box Office: 'Sing' Soars, 'Passengers' Recovers, 'Fences' Breaks Out On Christmas Day". Forbes. Retrieved December 30, 2016. expanded ... to 2,223 theaters yesterday after keeping it in limited release for the last 10 days. The August Wilson adaptation earned a smashing $6.688 million opening day, ... long term predictions are challenging for this $20–$25m production ... but this is a smashingly impressive single-day debut for a film that will absolutely be a big part of the Oscar conversation. It has earned $11.528m thus far.
↑ Hunt, Bill. "The Digital Bits". Fences official, plus the 4K floodgates are opening: Gladiator, Bridge on the River Kwai & more are on the way. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
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