September 16, 2002
		November 8, 2002

Antwone Fisher
(Fox Searchligh) Rated PG-13
Release Date: December 20, 2002

But let’s start with one of the good ones… good enough to survive an 8:30am screening time… Denzel Washington’s directorial debut, Antwone Fisher.  Well done.  While everyone was scurrying around trying to figure out how to embrace Matt Dillon’s overlong, otherwise decent directing debut, there was no need for equivocation about Washington’s work.  He made a major studio film on a mini-major budget.  And while has a lot to thank cinematographer Philippe Rousselot and other collaborators for, the simplicity of style suggests less reliance on others from this novice director.

The story is true, written by Antwone Fisher himself.  Newcomer Derek Luke works an emotional range from subdued to ferocious that is likely to make him a Golden Globe nominee, where the list is ten actors long.  And Washington plays the Robin-Williams-Good-Will-Hunting role as the therapist who has to unlock the man’s soul.  Unlike Williams, however, Washington does not get any big scenes, although you can always feel his powerful presence.  He does get a wife,  and their relationship, which was clearly designed to act as an emotional parallel between the obviously closed-down Fisher and the quietly closed-down therapist, is the only thing in the picture that really doesn’t work.  And, amazingly enough, Washington acknowledged just that when he spoke to a festival press conference on Friday. 

But the core of this movie is Fisher and the story is powerful.  Washington’s directorial work is a little too cerebral for his own good at times.  Derek Luke gives him the whole parade, so the movie works emotionally.  But it was almost as though Washington is afraid of the Fickle Finger of Corn pointed at him.  All in all, this is the best debut behind the camera from a major actor since, probably, Tim Robbins.

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