<PERSON>
“I believe in social dislocation and creative trouble."
Rustin is a 2023 American biographical drama film directed by <PERSON> which follows the life of civil rights activist <PERSON>.
Checked this out for the Oscar nominations and as you may know, biopics are very hit or miss for me — for every The Iron Claw or Oppenheimer, there’s a <PERSON> or a <PERSON>.
Rustin primarily suffers from how by-the-numbers it feels — it’s subject is certainly a compelling man, but as per usual with these Netflix biopics, they present it in the most boring way possible and thus, an 100 minute film feels like two and a half hours.
The love triangle here is partially what bloats it out — there’s definitely a way to represent <PERSON>’s queerness without leaning into becoming a soap opera, which this often veers into.
It’s a shame as <PERSON> really is quite good here — personally, I preferred his turn in The Color Purple, perhaps because that’s the better film but I’m happy the underrated actor got some kind of love at the Academy Awards.
Everyone else here is fine, though due to the flatness of the whole thing, they don’t really get a chance to stand out.
Overall, it’s not as infuriating as Maestro, but it’s still a tad unfortunate that this was the film <PERSON> was recognised for. 378