A24 A-to-Z: #81. "Native Son" (2019)

Scene from Native Son (2019)

In case you didn't know, A24 is one of the great purveyors of modern cinema. Since 2013, the studio has found a way to innovate independent cinema by turning each release into an event. As a result, A24 A-to-Z will be an ongoing series that looks at every release from the studio by analyzing its production history, release, criticisms, and any awards attention that it might've received. Join me on a quest to explore the modern heroes of cinema by exploring every hit and miss that comes with that magnificent logo. They may not all be great, but they more than make A24 what it is and what it will hopefully continue to be for years to come. 

Native Son

Released: April 6, 2019

Release Number: 81

Directed By: Rashid Johnson

Starring: Ashton Sanders, Margaret Qualley, Nick Robinson

Plot: A young African-American living in Chicago enters into a seductive new world of money and power after he is hired as a chauffeur for an affluent businessman.

With High Life, A24 found a way to turn outer space into a place of existential debate, full of surreal imagery that made everyone question the value of human connection. It was one of their first major hits for 2019 and was promising to set up one of the strangest second halves of the year imaginable. For their follow-up, they chose to take things in a different direction by finding ways to connect the past to the present. With Native Son, director Rashid Johnson took an 80-year-old novel and found ways to explore its themes of violence and economic strife in a conemporary setting. The results were spotty and became one of the studio's more controversial films. It wasn't necessarily because of its subject, but because of how little the studio seemed to care about it.

The story begins with Johnson being gifted the novel by his mother at the age of 15. She told him that it was going to be a difficult read, but one that she felt was necessary. The book, written by Richard Wright in 1940, was a cultural landmark that explored taboo subjects in 1930s America with such force that it left a strong impression on Johnson. As he grew older, he became an acclaimed visual artist while earning several accolades. There was something inside of him that made him eager to revisit the book. He hadn't disapproved of it before, but he was more grabbed by the emotional reaction it gave him. When reading it this time, he found himself more intrigued to dive into how its themes tie to modern America. 

Given that it has already been adapted twice as a film, this take was radical. It also brought in Pullitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Uderdog) to write the screenplay. Besides the update of locale, the story had some significant details to make protagonist Bigger Thomas into more of a dynamic character. For starters, he was an Afropunk who listened to Bad Brains and Dead Kennedys records while driving around Chicago. He was also designed as someone who was more empathetic, capable of being seen a palpable antihero. While what he does is still considered problematic, there is still something familiar and vulnerable in him. Among the most noteworthy changes on a plot level was the ending, which originally featured a rape scene. Parks believed that it wouldn't work in making him sympathetic. Whereas Wright saw Bigger as a man devoid of humanity, Parks wanted to make him familiar.

Among the noteworthy casting was Ashton Sanders as Bigger. Sanders had previously worked with A24 on the film Moonlight. He was drawn to Native Son because of his love of Parks' work. He was scene studying for Topdog/Underdog when he was offered the role. Despite the eagerness to take the role, Johnson told his cast that they weren't encouraged to read the novel. There was a concern that they would latch onto details that Johnson and Parks were trying not to incorporate into the story (you can guess what some of those are). In all of the actors' cases, they admit to later reading it and feeling stunned by how much darker the novel is. Given that the film features throwing a corpse into a furnance, it's quite the comment.

It was announced in February 2017 that Johnson would be directing the film, shot entirely in Chicago. By March 2018, the cast would be confirmed as well as the choice for A24 to distribute the film. While there wasn't much of significance that happened on set, Johnson incorporated a lot of his visual artist techniques to help Bigger feel out of place. This included several fast-forward montages to show him stuck in thought as the world passes him by. Johnson would even cameo both as himself and symbolically through his artwork.  Sanders would claim that he loved working with KiKi Layne and desired to work with her more in the future. By May 2018, the film had finished shooting.

At some point between this point and its premiere at Sundance the following January, things began to change. Despite A24 backing the film, it was announced that HBO Films would be distributing the film. This wasn't the first time that the two studios had worked together, though the first in the realm of film. Other works that HBO and A24 have done together include the TV series 2 Dope Queens and Euphoria. The reviews were hit and miss, with many praising it more for bold storytelling than its successful structure. As a result of its format, it's one of the few A24 films to lack any box office statistics, as HBO doesn't have the same business model. This caused complaints from Sanders, who wrote on Instagram his frustration at A24's lack of support of the release. He wrote comments like "A24, where you at?" and "Where's the Love?" on the weekend of HBO's big premiere. It was clear that they thought something was wrong with the film. Johnson meanwhile was more optimistic, believing that more people would see it because of HBO.

For what it was worth, the A24 snubbing didn't make sense given the overall success of the film. As evident by critics aggregate website, which rated it 62%,  this wasn't even their lowest rated film of 2019. There's at least a dozen films co-released through DirecTV that have much worse numbers. Those who liked the film tended to side with Aramide Tinubu of AV Club who wrote that "Native Son is heartbreaking and painfully relevant, proving that in the nearly 80 years since Wright published his novel, little has changed." Similar comments were made by Brian Lowry of CNN . com when noting "Native Son vividly revives a seminal book, and once the movie and audience get their bearings, proves as thought-provoking as it is heartbreaking." Others like Armond White of National Review lead the dissent when suggesting "The fact that we cannot escape Bigger Thomas's ghost is partly due to Johnson and Park's fashionable decision to subvert Wright's cautionary book and turn out one more urban-tragedy scenario, now carrying the imprimatur of HBO slickness."

Native Son, among other things, was an admirable debut from Johnson who found his ability to tackle difficult subject matter in at least interesting ways. While its behind the scenes quarrels with A24 may overshadow its achievements, it's still worth celebrating a story of bold and intruing decisions that make one of the studio's oddest adaptations yet. It also proved that Sanders was capable of being an actor with a promising career, adding empathy to an otherwise divisive figure. For their next movie, A24 would once again have a notorious moment swept under the rug. While it wasn't bungled and sent to HBO, it would end up moving from a theatrical release to a streaming release. Then again, that's what Under the Silver Lake needed to achieve its full cult movie status. It's something you'll either get or you won't depending on how much you love So Cal neo-noir.

Up Next: Under the Silver Lake (2019)