Shirley Review: The Respectful Biopic a Revolutionary Deserved More From

In the hallowed annals of American politics, Shirley Chisholm’s name shall forever burn bright – a trailblazing icon who defied racial and gender barriers. The unbowed daughter of Caribbean immigrants, she shattered the archaic glass ceiling in 1968 by becoming the nation’s first Black congresswoman. Her meteoric rise reached its apex four years later when she launched an audacious bid to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, the first Black woman from any major party to pursue the highest office.

John Ridley’s film “Shirley” admittedly shines a well-deserved spotlight on this transformative figure. Yet one cannot help but feel a tinge of disappointment that such a maverick spirit is rendered in aDidtinctly conventional, by-the-numbers manner. While Regina King exudes commanding gravitas as the titular heroine, the storytelling too often treads a pedestrian biopic path – glossing over formative influences and impactful accomplishments outside of that fabled 1972 campaign in favor of familiar tropes and limited dramatic heft.

Chisholm’s journey brims with revolutionary verve crying out for inspired, disruptive cinematic treatment. Alas, “Shirley” proves content to settle for solidly respectful decorum over thunderous, merited exaltation. As the lights go down, one trembles at the prospect of how galvanizing this tale could have been in more emboldened hands.

Unconventional Candidate, Conventional Retelling

Shirley Chisholm’s remarkable presidential run propelled her into the national spotlight in 1972. Yet far before this quixotic quest, we meet the indomitable congresswoman shortly after her own glass-shattering achievement – becoming the first Black woman elected to Congress in 1968.

The film swiftly whisks us forward four years as Chisholm, played by the regal Regina King, decides to throw her hat into the ring for the Democratic nomination. Fueled by a burning desire to represent the oft-marginalized – Blacks, women, youth, the working class – she boldly embarks on an uphill battle.

Assembling a lean team including strategic advisor Wesley “Mac” Holder (Lance Reddick) and fundraiser Arthur Hardwick Jr. (Terrence Howard), Chisholm must navigate the hostile terrains of skepticism, underfunding, and outright racism. Dramatic tensions abound, from clashes with her husband Conrad (Michael Cherrie) to attempts on her life by white supremacist agitators.

Yet Chisholm soldiers onward, mustering impassioned oratory to woo voters with promises of restoring politics to the people. A key alliance with budding activist Barbara Lee (Christina Jackson) and lawsuits to secure equal media access propel the campaign’s momentum.

Central conflicts intensify as the Democratic convention looms. With insurgent George McGovern unexpectedly amassing delegates, establishment Dems like Walter Fauntroy (André Holland) pressure Chisholm’s departure. Even the Congressional Black Caucus resists fully embracing her pioneering run until the pivotal ballot.

Though history arguably foretells the outcome, Ridley maintains dramatic tension around whether this principled maverick can truly upend the patriarchal political order. Familiar territory, certainly, but Chisholm’s singular presence electrifies every stride toward her improbable prize.

Missed Opportunity for Bolder Brushstrokes

In helming this cinematic tribute to Shirley Chisholm, director John Ridley demonstrates a firm grasp of traditional storytelling and period authenticity. However, his workmanlike approach ultimately fails to capture the rebellious spirit and seismic impact of its pioneering subject.

From a narrative perspective, Ridley keeps events trotting along at an agreeable pace, skillfully balancing Chisholm’s public battles and private struggles. Intimate family scenes detailing marital strife with husband Conrad provide grounding counterpoints to the campaign’s frenetic momentum. The democratic convention’s brokered chaos also crackles with dramatic tension.

Yet for all his competent handling of these expected biopic beats, Ridley’s directorial choices seldom stray from conventionality. One longs for avant-garde stylistic flourishes or heightened reality to channel Chisholm’s norm-shattering audacity. Too often, his camera remains a neutral observer rather than an activist’s ally.

This somewhat muted approach extends to Ramsey Nickell’s cinematography as well. Certainly, the period details are exquisitely rendered – the lived-in Brooklyn neighborhoods, smoke-filled backrooms, and raucous convention floors. Facial lighting flatters the strong performances while evoking the warm nostalgic palette of 1970s cinema.

However, Nickell’s visuals could have benefited from bolder, more expressive choices. The warm ambers and soft focus lend an almost gauzy retro-romanticism ill-fitting for a story of such disruptive advocacy. More judicious use of shadow and contrast may have better conveyed the harsh realities and enmities Chisholm was battling.

Ultimately, both director and cinematographer achieve well-executed traditionalism. But in doing so, they deny the vibrant edginess and subversive spirit one covets in chronicling such a radical change agent. Chisholm’s barrier-demolishing odyssey cries out for aesthetic daring to match her own indefatigable courage.

Where Ridley’s “Shirley” capably walks, a truly visionary approach may have allowed this story to soar. For all its technical merits, the film can’t quite shake the inertia of conventional biopic complacency. A disappointing missed opportunity to push envelopes as intrepidly as its subject once did.

Regal Turns Amidst Sporadic Support

At the explosive core of “Shirley” rests a captivating, layered portrayal by the ever-radiant Regina King. As the titular trailblazer, King seamlessly embodies both searing determination and genteel poise – twin pillars of Chisholm’s revolutionary presence.

In fiery campaign mode, King’s impassioned oratory commands rapt attention. Chisholm’s lofty ideals of racial upliftment and restoring governance to the people pour forth in a torrent of rousing rhetoric. King’s forceful delivery and unwavering stare brook no dissent from the entrenched patriarchy.

Yet the actress finds ample space for nuance amid the broadstrokes. In quieter interludes, King unveils Chisholm’s weariness with oppressive norms, allowing glimmers of self-doubt to momentarily fracture that indomitable facade. An especially poignant scene finds her retreating to the perceived safety of the family fishbowl after a harrowing brush with racist violence, King’s shaken stillness conveying volumes.

The marital strains with oft-sidelined husband Conrad provide another prism through which King refracts Chisholm’s complexity. Clashing with Michael Cherrie’s subtly anguished paterfamilias, King juggles the contrasting hostilities and affections of a women’s lib vanguard struggling to meet tradition’s demands.

If King’s tour-de-force anchors the film, the supporting cast provides welcome if inconsistent uplift. In his final role, the late Lance Reddick wields commanding weariness as confidant Wesley “Mac” Holder, lending gruff pragmatism to temper Chisholm’s zeal. Terrence Howard’s deft turn as finance manager Arthur Hardwick finds hints of roguish charm beneath the boardroom bluster.

Yet others struggle to transcend biopic archetype. As idealistic protegee Robert Gottlieb, Lucas Hedges seems to toggle between overcooked and underwritten modes, never quite solidifying his character’s naivete or evolution. Andre Holland fares better as treacherous pol Walter Fauntroy, amping unctuous smarm with chilling ease.

Elsewhere, Amirah Vann makes a memorable impression as Diahann Carroll – her regality providing an electric contrast to Brad James’ blustering Huey P. Newton in their pivotal meeting. And keeping things in the family, King’s real-life sister Reina exudes lived-in affection as confidant Muriel St. Hill.

Ultimately though, “Shirley” unequivocally belongs to its leading lady. King’s masterful ability to blend hurricane passion and coastline serenity prevents Chisholm from ever feeling one-note. With lesser skill, the unbending revolutionary may have emerged a monochrome caricature.

Instead, King endows her subject with captivating flesh-and-blood authenticity. An audacious life demanding an audacious performance – rendered spectacularly.

A Flickering Flame That Deserved Brighter Burn

In its grandest moments, “Shirley” manages to channel the trailblazing fervor that defined its subject’s revolutionary spirit. Regrettably, such transcendent sequences prove all too fleeting amidst an otherwise restrained and conventional retelling.

When the film allows Chisholm’s incandescent ideals to blaze, the effect is nothing short of galvanizing. Her soaring rhetoric promising to give politics back to the marginalized still crackles with urgency decades later. Regina King’s full-throated delivery of these withering denouncements against the ruling white male establishment rekindles their seismic, era-defining impact.

In these electrifying interludes, Ridley’s film reminds how Chisholm’s crusade was both ahead of its time and urgently of the moment. Her audacious insistence that subjugated communities – Blacks, women, the working class – deserved full civic enfranchisement defiantly challenged the status quo’s very democratic foundations. Here was a figure demanding sociopolitical upheaval through system immersion rather than violent resistance.

Disappointingly, the surrounding narrative often fails to properly contextualize the full extent of Chisholm’s iconoclasm. Key biographical details are truncated or omitted entirely. The sidelining of her pioneering legislative achievements and grassroots community work in Brooklyn neuters a more comprehensive understanding of her radical ethos and praxis.

Most egregiously, “Shirley” only selectively illuminates the establishment roadblocks and vicious bigotry Chisholm overcame at every turn with indefatigable resilience. While harrowing scenarios like an attempted assassination do make the cut, too many of the systemic indignities that marred her quest feel muted or brushed aside.

What ultimately emerges is a simplified, truncated view of a woman whose very existence disrupted the misogynistic, racist machinery of institutionalized power. The resolute flame that fueled her trailblazing still scorches the screen in fits and starts.

Yet by not fully committing to the depths of Chisholm’s transformative significance, Ridley’s film only intermittently rises to the stature of its subject. It’s a cinematic tribute sparked by transcendent moments that never quite achieves continual, full-fledged incandescence.

Honorable But Incomplete Tribute

As the credits roll on John Ridley’s “Shirley,” one is left with distinctly mixed emotions about this cinematic monument to an American icon. On one hand, the film undeniably succeeds in reintroducing Shirley Chisholm’s groundbreaking legacy to a new generation sorely in need of her inspirational defiance.

In Regina King’s phenomenal lead performance, we are granted a tantalizing window into the fiery determination and grace under fire that propelled Chisholm to shatter centuries of institutionalized racism and sexism. When King seizes the spotlight in full revolutionary mode – rallying the disenfranchised with searing oratory or steadfastly holding court amongst the racist, patriarchal ruling class – the film transcends conventional biopic treatment.

However, such sublime instances are inevitably bracketed by tamer storytelling choices that pull “Shirley” back towards safe, well-trodden territory. One can’t escape a nagging sense that Ridley’s transfixed gaze remains a touch too narrow, sacrificing a richer understanding of Chisholm’s totemic stature in service of humbly depicting her 1972 campaign struggles.

By refraining from deeper exploration of Chisholm’s full lived experiences – her tireless community advocacy, hard-won legislative achievements, and unyielding perseverance against overwhelming subjugation – the film restricts its subject’s dimensionality. The disruptive, revolutionary heart underscoring her “unbought and unbossed” credo too often gets filtered through a respectful but muted lens.

“Shirley” constantly hints at untapped depth and ferocity screaming to be realized. One can’t help but imagine how Chisholm’s barrier-demolishing odyssey may have translated to the screen with a directorial bravura matching her own. Perhaps a kaleidoscopic narrative structure shattering typical biopic conventions? Or expressionistic visuals conjuring the existential struggle of shattering sociopolitical norms?

Alas, such experimental daring remains outside Ridley’s grasp. “Shirley” stands as an honorable, intermittently rousing primer on a pivotal American figure. But in playing it safe, the film stops disappointingly short of immortalizing Chisholm’s transcendent impact with the boundary-defying verve her story so fervently demands.