“Passing” feels classic in every sense of the word. Shot in crisp black and white that makes fantastic use of shadows and shades, Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut is self-assured and gorgeous. Rarely has a lack of color looked so versatile. Each frame is utilized for maximum tension and emotion, and it’s the kind of film that’s so breathtaking that you’ll miss looking at it as soon as it’s gone.
What’s more, “Passing” brings a classic text to screen in a way that makes it feel truly alive, without forfeiting any of the tension within the original story. I wasn’t taught Larsen’s book in school, but I wish I had been: it covers some of the same thematic ground as other great literary works like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” and Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening,” but centers race, colorism, and sexuality along with gender and class.
Despite its thematic richness, “Passing” never once feels dense, nimbly handling its multi-layered meanings and communicating its most important, heart-rending parts through little more than a shared glance between actors. It may be both Thompson and Negga’s best work to date, and the pair play off one another with a loaded, crackling energy that evolves throughout the movie.
As conversations about the viability of streaming and the archival problems its future might pose continue, it’s clear that great movies like “Passing,” which was distributed by Netflix, deserve to find a more lasting form. Larsen’s story, after all, lasted nearly a century in print before finally getting the dazzling and devastating on-screen adaptation it deserved.
