Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Antebellum Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 30, 2020

There's little doubt that Antebellum would not exist were it not for Get Out, and it's not really that much of a spoiler to state that despite some noticeable differences Antebellum echoes Get Out both in some of its general plot outlines as well as its subtext, not to mention the fact that both films hinge on a conspiracy of sorts that ensnares an unsuspecting black character. Any further "revelations" will be saved for the second part of the review, so those wishing to avoid outright spoilers are encouraged to skip that section. That said, anyone who has seen Get Out will probably feel the little hairs on their neck prick up at least a few times as Antebellum weaves a deliberately disjunctive tale which seems on its face to be set in two disparate though still linked time periods, the Civil War Era, where plantations were still active and filled with slaves, and our modern day world, where at least some upwardly mobile people of color ostensibly have more freedom. The stories are linked largely by the presence of Janelle Monáe, who in the Civil War scenes portrays a slave who has been given the name of Eden, and who in the modern day story is a famous author and sociologist named Veronica who is about to partake in a book tour promoting her latest effort. Are the two characters relatives, or is this some sort of time traveling outing, as was at least hinted at by some of the film's early promotional material? Alas, the "twist" in this instance is going to strike some as downright ludicrous, though for people of color, it may work rather powerfully at least as an allegory.

Note: The following paragraphs include some spoiler-ish material.

Get Out was a wonderful exercise in misdirection, and there's something very much the same at play in Antebellum, and arguably even more so, given the film's supposedly different time frames. In that regard, Antebellum seems to be aiming for the same kind of "surprise" that supposedly occurred in M. Night Shyamalan's The Village , where ostensible "historical" content turned out to be something at least somewhat different than what was being portrayed on its surface. (That connection is perhaps made unavoidable by some lingering shots of a grove of trees defining the "end" of the area where the slaves are.) The first act of Antebellum seems positively anchored in the past, with no hint of anything other than the sorts of horrors that have been displayed in any number of relatively recent films focusing on the tragedy of slavery, including 12 Years a Slave.

But at around the 38 minute mark, a woman who initially appears to be Eden awakens to the clear sound of a cell phone, a woman who is then revealed to actually be Veronica. Has the previous section been a dream? A repressed memory of a former life? The next part of the film then documents Veronica's morning before leaving on a book tour, a morning that includes a bizarre online chat with a woman named Elizabeth (Jena Malone), who seems to know a lot about Veronica and her family but whose motives, while seemingly sinister, aren't entirely clear. Veronica leaves for her book tour, where she spends an evening out with her friends in a sequence that rather slyly offers clear assessments that racism may have become less "overt", so to speak, but which is still rampant. It's when Veronica leaves the dinner party and supposedly gets into her Uber that the first "reveal" is offered, which is then followed up with a series of subsequent denouements which make everything "clear" while also stretching the bounds of credulity to the absolute breaking point.

Without directly stating what's really going on with regard to both any perceived "time traveling" element and the plot in general, I'll simply ask a few questions while also offering some other thoughts. First of all, if literally scores of people of color had been kidnapped against their will, wouldn't there have been some public notice? While there's a passing reference to Veronica's husband and son in this regard, it's patently absurd to think that the disappearance of a woman of Veronica's supposed stature wouldn't raise more interest. But even more incomprehensibly, wouldn't a so-called amusement park with a sign be something known to the public at large, or at least to those who lived in the general vicinity? Finally, considering the fact that the film alludes to one character in particular having a prominent public persona (other than Veronica, that is), how does this character balance his public life with more private pursuits as documented in the film? It's all too silly by half, even if the underlying content is undeniably chilling.

Antebellum also depends on a structural cheat in terms of how the two "sections" are offered and how they fit into an objective chronology. That may be the film's strongest asset, even if it's going to anger some viewers who may feel they've been willfully led down a garden (plantation?) path. There's visceral content in this film, to be sure, and Monáe emerges as a performer of grit and considerable charisma. But a little less "trickiness" might have resulted in a film of Get Out's creepy power, instead of this outing, which seems to have been fashioned to evoke Get Out within a more overt context of historical racism, but which seems to be as reliant on the supposed shock value of its "twist" as on any of its depictions of the horrors of subjugation.

Antebellum Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Antebellum is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. While it's clear from some of the supplements showing cameras in passing that this was digitally captured, I wasn't able to make out any models, and the IMDb is similarly silent on both that as well as at what resolution the DI was finished. All of that said, this is a frequently stunning looking presentation in 4K, so I wouldn't be surprised to find out a 4K DI was the source (as always with my reviews, if someone can point me to an authoritative source, private message me and I'll post an update here). This is an often surprisingly gorgeous film, considering its troubling subject matter. Cinematographer Pedro Luque is on record as evidently having procured some of the original lenses used to shoot Gone with the Wind, and that, while obviously ironic for any number of reasons, may have helped give the film its often striking appearance. While some of the "magic hour" material (as in the great opening shot) is a little hazy, the bulk of the outdoor material is at times almost startlingly sharp and well detailed, as in the many scenes featuring slaves in the cotton fields. Here the palette veritably bursts with bright colors, and detail on things like fabrics or even the puffs of cotton is typically excellent. There are a couple of rough moments in this presentation (which arguably look even rougher in the 4K UHD version). I'm not sure if digital grain was added for selected sequences, notably the horrifying scene where Eden is compelled to say her name, or later when Veronica and her friends are at a restaurant (both bathed in yellow grading, it should be noted), but those moments in particular can look noisy. Also on the noisy side is the whole sequence where Eden's revenge at the climax begins, which has a few moments that are rough enough that they almost start to look pixellated. Shadow definition is occasionally lacking in this presentation, where scenes in unlit or dimly lit interior spaces can offer relatively little detail.

Antebellum Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Antebellum has a nice sounding Dolby Atmos track that may frankly not have a huge amount of vertical activity, but which still provides consistent immersion. There are some clear uses of the Atmos channels, including sometimes courtesy of the often pulsing string laden score by Roman GianArthur and Nate Wonder, but also at selected moments, as in the memorable circuit of a jet traversing the sky. Surround activity is often subtle, as in some of the clatter of Veronica's busy home life in the morning scene where she's introduced, but also in scenes like the restaurant sequence. There's some good, rumbly LFE courtesy of score (often mixed with actual sound effects in the lower frequencies), or even supposed source cues, like the thumping music playing on the SUV stereo of the car that picks up Veronica from her dinner with friends. The outdoor material at the plantation also has nice regular placement of ambient environmental sounds. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track. Optional English (and other languages) subtitles are available.

Antebellum Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The History in Front of Us: Deconstructing Antebellum (1080p; 1:07:06) is an interesting two part documentary which gets into both the genesis of the idea (a nightmare) and the production process.


• A Hint of Horror: The Clues of Antebellum (1080p; 6:13) offers co-writers and co-directors Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz discussing some of the "easter eggs" they hid in the film.


• Opening Antebellum (1080p; 4:46) is a fun piece documenting the shooting of the opening "unedited one take" sequence. There's some interesting PiP content here showing the Steadicam operator being guided through the locations with an adjacent look at the finished sequence.


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 7:59)


• Theatrical Trailers (1080p; 3:11)

Antebellum Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are two sidebars to Antebellum which may interest some, whether or not they were particularly moved by the film. My wife watched part of this with me, and alerted me to a book she had read called Kindred, by Octavia Butler, which does in fact involve a time traveling black woman who ends up in her ancestor's slave era and which evidently covers at least some of the same themes this film does. Though some may find it on the un-PC side (and I suspect even it's creator, a black woman, would want some people to feel it's un-PC), there's a series of videos on YouTube that kind of fit in with Antebellum 's underlying conceit. The series is called Ask a Slave which features a woman I personally think is hilarious who recounts her "adventures" as a performer at Mount Vernon, where she was tasked with being one of George and Martha Washington's supposed slaves. The videos offer "reenactments" of actual questions visitors asked her. In terms of Antebellum itself, this is a film with a lot of style, but with arguably a few too many tricks up its sleeve. Technical merits are solid and the supplementary package very enjoyable, for those who are considering a purchase.