It's Called Acting, Look It Up

2021 Movies I'm Late To, Part I

This is the first entry of a series about movies from 2021 I’m just now catching up on. This week: Passing. Next week: The Lost Daughter, or maybe Licorice Pizza. I’ll call an audible on the day.

Because I am a Big Dummy, I was late to Passing. K. Austin Collins’s 2021 ranking reminded me to revisit it. Photo: Screenshot.

The last time Irene (Tessa Thompson) saw her friend Clare (Ruth Negga), Clare was black. But one hot afternoon, in a hotel restaurant in a white part of town, Clare sits a few tables away, transformed. She’s white now, with a white husband and a white daughter, living among other white people. In the movie’s stark black and white, Clare seems to even be wearing shades of pearl, egg shell, and bone — adopted by whiteness, ensconced in it. Irene is transfixed by the transfiguration. “And you’re happy?” Irene asks, of Clare’s new life. “Of course,” Clare sighs blissfully. “As you said, I have everything I ever wanted.” The camera — and Irene — gaze upon Clare, her bright,…