London Film Festival Review: Widows

(Dir: Steve McQueen, 2018)

The simple suggestion of Steve McQueen directing a heist thriller put Widows at the top of this years London Film Festival must-watch list. It's been almost five years since 12 Years A Slave, his last film, and he continues to be one of the most exciting directors working today. Hence the excitement about what he could bring and how he could twist a genre that's been done to death.

From the get go his creative fire and love of using the camera in unexpected ways is on display – the opening few minutes showcase a car chase shot on a single camera providing a character-focused perspective on events, putting us inside the action, whilst jarring edits jump back in time to brief scenes involving those in the vehicle, establishing context. It's a masterful start, and when you pay attention to the casting you are forced to check your usual expectations about who the key players actually are.

This is very much a character piece, and Viola Davis' Veronica is a powerful lead, pushed into a shitty situation and forced to react as she only knows how. There's a steely determination on show, seemingly ice-cold on the surface but churning underneath with a depth of emotion that rises up in private. She's joined by Michelle Rodriguez's Linda, Elizabeth Debicki's Alice and Cynthia Erivo's Belle. All have their own issues to deal with but are thrust together and form a great unit. These are fascinating, well-written characters with great performances bringing each to life, as they learn to utilise the skills they didn't know they had.

The heist and its planning are well executed, but Widows is more focused on a host of societal issues. Set in a Chicago district there's a huge amount of politics at play: from the privileged Mulligan family (Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall) who – mostly – see it as their family right to run this part of the city and profit accordingly, to brothers Jamal (Brian Tyree Henry) and Jatemme (Daniel Kaluuya) who believe that politics and the inherent corruption is the legitimate way to expand their criminal enterprises; to how the church can sway an election, the impact of zonal redistricting and the smoke and mirrors of publicly embracing black female business owners whilst keeping them indebted to a white paymaster. Not to mention what one has to do to survive as a single parent.

Widows is clearly more than just a standard heist thriller and these extra layers are core to it's success. Creatively speaking it does feel like McQueen's most conventional film, but that still puts it ahead of the abilities of most directors and it's full of fascinating little flourishes – the car ride Farrell's character takes home after an event is a prime example as it works on so many levels. But again it's how he uses and positions the camera – what does he show us, what does he stop us seeing and what is our perspective for it all? Ultimately the film is so successful because of the characters, acting and writing – predominantly the four leads but also the supporting cast, especially the supremely menacing Kaluuya. Widows may well end up being one of the best films of the year.