Fast Color Review (Film, 2019)
Are you tired of the superhero movie? Does your do whatever it takes to save humanity narrative lack personality? Do you wish there could be something more?
Fast Color is a superhero film. The characters in the film disagree, literally saying they’re not superheroes, but they are. The stakes of the narrative and their potential impact on the world vary in significance throughout the film, though the selfless desire to save their world is always there.
Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw, excellent as always) is running from something. We first see her stealing a car, the ropes that trapped her still tied to her wrists, driving as far away as she can from whatever trouble she got into. Later that night, we learn why people are interested in her. When she has a seizure, she can physically manipulate the world. She produces destructive earthquakes. The problem is she cannot control when they happen and what they do.
Ruth has tried to go on her own, but she can’t run anymore. She knows the only person who could help her is her mother, Bo. Ruth comes from a family where everyone woman is born with superpowers they neatly control. They can disintegrate and reintegrate matter, producing a beautiful floating pattern of thousands of particles, as if the matter in question has transformed into gravity defying glitter dancing in the air. Even Ruth’s daughter Lila (Saniyya Sidney) has mastered the family’s power. So why can’t Ruth?
Writer/director Julia Hart and writer Jordan Horowitz craft one of the most original superhero universes in years. Society is in the early stages of a dystopia. There is no more rain. Water is not rationed, but sold by the jug, and supplies are extremely limited. The villains of the film, a series of agents and scientists working for the government, somehow believe that Ruth’s tectonic plate shifting power could save the world. It’s a fascinating dynamic to see the heroes want to isolate themselves while the villains are only interested in saving the world, whatever the cost.
Lorraine Toussaint steals the film as Bo. She is the keeper of her family’s secrets. She is the teacher who can bring out the best in your powers if you can open your mind and breathe. She is a healer who makes her own medicine. She is a respected force in her community even as she protects her family in an isolated farmhouse nowhere near the main town. She is kind, strong, intimidating, honest, loving, fearful, and fearsome in equal measure. It’s rare for a character who handles so much of the exposition to be so dynamic, yet Toussaint finds a beautiful, clear voice in the screenplay and never misses a moment.
The visual palette of the film is fascinating. The world of True Color is cast in muted shades of yellow and blue. The blue is not the natural blue of the sky, but a retro formerly neon blue that has faded to a far sadder shade. There’s an old-fashioned look to the story even as we’re able to identify the tale taking place in at least the mid to late 2000s (Ruth shows off her The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill record to her daughter) if not in the present or near future.
When the power is used, the intent is clear. The titular Fast Color is what this family can see when they use their powers. A muted blue bowl disintegrated by Lila becomes a glistening wonder of pulsing waves floating in the air. A cigarette disintegrated by Bo shines with such a bright orange from the fire within that it almost hurts the eyes in the nighttime scene. The world in Ruth’s story is dull because the women in her family can see colors so bright after using their powers that the rest of the world is lifeless by comparison.
The casting of the film is significant to its success. This is a world dominated by women, specifically women of color. Bo, Ruth, and Lila are black people with natural hair styles. Women run the motel, the bar, and the grocery store. Men exist in the world, obviously, but they are oblivious to the reality of the women in it, especially Ruth’s family. The only man we see running a business (the convenience store) quickly gives up information on everything he sees, while the women in power are shown to be more protective of what they know.
Intended or not, there is an added layer of significance to an inter-generational legacy of black women having to live on the outskirts of American society. They have no choice but to protect their own lives from people who would vilify or exploit them for personal gain and glory. They cannot totally survive on their own, so they must hide their truth and engage everyone in the world with a smile and a hug so as to not arouse suspicion. They have to be more generous, self-sufficient, and accommodating people you’ve ever met to earn their quiet existence of practicing what they call parlor tricks. The slightest misstep in tone or demeanor could tear the family apart forever and ruin what generations of their family have perfected and protected.
Fast Color works as a standalone narrative, but it is worth pointing out that the film is currently being adapted for a television series on Amazon Prime by Viola Davis’ JuVee Productions. There’s so much potential in this world, in this story, in this approach to an over-saturated genre. If we never got more Fast Color, the film would stand alone as one of the greatest superhero stories; we’re lucky that we’ll get to spend more time in this world and with these characters in the near future.
Fast Color is available to stream on Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Epix, and can be rented or purchased on other major digital platforms.
