Rustin - Review Thread

We don’t like to talk about it but in some ways biopics function commercially in a similar way to “franchise” intellectual properties in that they’re kind of exploiting people’s pre-existing knowledge of a famous person to get them to watch. But what about biopics about figures who aren’t household names? That’s the case with Bayard Rustin, someone this film argues was a major driving force in bringing together the famous 1963 march on Washington where Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. In the years after that Rustin kind of fell into obscurity for a variety of reasons but he’s been re-discovered in recent years, in part because his homosexuality raises questions of intersectionality that are of special interest today. This film isn’t particularly interested in the later portion of his life where he fell out of favor however and instead focuses in on the year or so leading up to the high point of his career: the organization of that march. The resulting movie is… okay. The organization effort itself and the logistics involved are moderately interesting but perhaps not exactly the height of suspense. Rustin himself, as played by Coleman Domingo, is also an interesting screen presence with some interesting character quirks but I can’t say it was the most fascinating portrait of a figure I’ve seen on screen by any means. The film’s production values are good but nothing stunning and its supporting cast is good, though there are a couple strange casting choices like putting Chris Rock in the film as Roy Wilkins, who doesn’t really fit with the rest of the film. This was a rewarding enough little history lesson that’s worth a watch but I can’t call it great cinema.