“The Birth of a Nation”
Fox Searchlight
Eight months after its triumphant debut at the Sundance Film Festival, Nate Parker’s Nat Turner biopic “The Birth of a Nation” finally arrives in theaters with a very different stature than it had earlier this year. Tarnished by new reports surrounding Parker’s college rape scandal, the film’s dramatic treatment of a slave rebellion has been buried by scrutiny of its director and star.
So after all that, is the movie actually worth checking out? Screen Talk co-hosts Eric Kohn and Anne Thompson don’t exactly see eye to eye on that one. In this week’s episode, Anne discusses how the film played for her “Sneak Previews” class at UCLA, while Kohn argues that the enthusiastic critical reaction isn’t what it seems. Then Anne pulls out Eric’s review from Sundance, and, well…just give it a listen:
Plus: Annette Bening just entered the Oscar race with “20th Century Women,” which premieres this weekend at the New York Film Festival.
Listen to the full episode above.