Swan Song

To realize that "Swan Song", a science fiction film by Oscar winner writer and director Benajmin Cleary, is Marhershala Ali's FIRST leading role is heartbreaking. I have been a fan of Ali's since I first saw him on the weird yet impactful USA network show "The 4400" so to see him finally get opportunities to be first on the call sheet is incredibly satisfying.

Given his devotion to his craft and his willingness to push himself into dark places, "Swan Song" proves to be the perfect vessel for him to channel his talents. The plot is fairly straight forward: Cameron Turner (Ali) is a loving husband and father who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. He is then presented with a controversial alternative solution to replace himself with a carbon copy clone to continue his life with his family. His wife is portrayed by the always reliable Naomie Harris with whom he had previously established incredible chemistry with in "Moonlight". Both actors sell their characters’ unexpected love story and how it pans out over the years in a way that makes cameron's journey through the film hurt on a deeply emotional level. Glenn Close and Awkwafina each other a unique perspective on common troupes you tend to see in dark, science fiction films like this but that's just fine. This film keeps our time as an audience with these characters at just the right length so that we can continue to focus on cameron's experience meeting his close and making a final decision about his family's future.

The third act starts to buckle a bit under the pressure of this story where a man is quickly running out of time with few options. However Marhersala Ali continues to show why he is quickly becoming one of the greatest actors of his generation and deserves all of the lead roles he can get (can't wait for his take on Blade) by elevating the movie beyond feeling like an extended episode of “Black Mirror”! Being released on applytv+ and not getting as much of an awards push as I would like to see, I'm not expecting this film to be a huge awards contender but I will be incredibly frustrated if there aren't nominations for cinematography, set design, original screenplay and hopefully Ali. I've been telling folks who express being on the fence about watching this movie that despite it's dark take on technology and life, it is an incredibly powerful film that is lead by one of the best talents Hollywood has to offer.

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Brandon Collins