But it comes up short in many key ways, most of them structural. The script is fatally flawed in key ways that keep this potentially fascinating film from living up to its full potential.
It was directed by its screenwriters -- Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz -- so it's unclear to me if there was some meddling from producers or if they simply didn't see the problems with their plotting but while there are some compelling sequences in the movie -- including a bravura opening single take shot -- it largely squanders what is good about it by wallowing in misery in its first act and then rushing to its finale in its third.
The film opens with a very grim, long sequence set on what appears to be a slave plantation. We are used to seeing these kind of brutal 'period' movies. None have been more effective at conveying the dehumanization and torture of the institution than the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, and while it's important that a film like Antebellum not sugarcoat slavery either, there's a point where the brutality can be overkill.
It doesn't help that Monae, a gifted actress, isn't given a ton of character development. Given the fact that the big twist in the movie -- which I won't spoil here -- could and should give a lot more nuance to everything that happens in the first act, it really bogs the movie down.
About a third of the way through there's a shift -- an incredibly long flashback if you will -- that has the Monae character in a modern setting. She plays a wildly successful sort of self help guru with an adorable family and likable best friends, including a scene-stealing Gabourey Sidibe. Her life is probably a tad too two dimensionally idyllic but I did like how the film ominously layers on some dread. Particularly, a scene where a horse drawn carriage plows through a scene, I must admit I jumped a litle.
Eventually we are rocketed back to the Monae character in her plantation plight and when the plot starts to finally reveal itself -- far too late in the proceedings to my opinion -- the movie's momentum starts to pick up and some interesting ideas could be explored.
But instead of exploring the world more that the movie has taken painstaking time to establish -- for instance, we are struck by the curious image of 'slaves' picking cotton all day that is then simply burned -- is chucked out the window for a bit of cliched escape finale that has some satisfying jolts but ultimately leaves far too much unresolved or unexplained.
What's maddening is that this movie does something I really like, which is avoid the trap of taking the easy supernatural way out -- and while its message is ultimately a heavy handed one, that doesn't mean there isn't a need for it.
Still, it's a bad sign when you are constantly asking yourself why things are happening on screen for as long as they are or why certain narrative choices are even being made -- and I found myself doing it constantly.
The film is under two hours long and suffers for it. I remembered thinking that it could in theory make for a good television miniseries or novel, especially since the bold premise lends itself to more interrogation -- but alas this is what we have.
I don't regret seeing it -- it's flaws are considerable and will probably prevent the film from reaching the audience it could have -- but I think it's worth talking about. A great film could be and should be made about the need of some white people to continue re-litigating the Civil War, as if it's results weren't definitive and codified.
But Antebellum, sadly, is not that film.
It substitutes too much sickening imagery for substance and sacrifices what could have been a really good story to service a tidy conclusion.
I wish the filmmakers had gone back to the drawing board.
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