Bayard Rustin, advisor to Martin Luther King Jr., dedicates his life to the quest for racial equality, human rights and worldwide democracy. However, as an openly gay Black man, he is all but erased from the civil rights movement he helped build.
Rustin is directed by George C. Wolfe who previously directed Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020). Rustin is a biopic of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, the movie film also tells the true story of Rustin helping Martin Luther King Jr. and others organize the 1963 March On Washington.
What completely sells Rustin comes down to the performance and the impact they leave on the viewer, Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin is the clear standout and it's honestly not even close. Domingo gives such a powerful and transformative performance where he completely turns into Bayard Rustin, between his actions and matching Bayard Rustin's voice. There's so much to Domingo's performance that is truly incredible, the movie itself also goes for this old-fashioned prestige biopic framework that really matches what Domingo is going for here. George C. Wolfe much like in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) he does an excellent job of giving the cast extra power to their roles and moving each scene a long at a solid pace.
The rest of the cast are quite solid such as Aml Ameen as Martin Luther King Jr. the interactions between Ameen and Domingo are truly some of the absolute best moments of the film and really go to show just how important this March really was. There's joy in seeing a large community come together at a huge scale and stand together.
The dialogue is a huge part where the movie shines, while at times there are some familiar biopic beats with the dialogue, for most of the film it focuses on wanting the viewer to feel the film's strength. Whether that be through Colman Domingo interacting with the other actors and actresses in the film, or if it's the film's focus on standing together and power. George C. Wolfe directs the film in such a powerful and respectful way that makes the film all the more honest and show's that Wolfe clearly has a lot of passion about the topic.
Rustin's main flaw is falling a bit too safe with it's politics, which if you know the true story of Bayard Rustin you will recognize that immediately, unfortunately Rustin does play it a bit safe when it comes to biopics and can feel a bit too traditional at times. But what makes the film work is the overall approach, where the film might not be saying or doing anything particularly new. But between the cast, Colman Domingo's powerful performance and the direction from George C. Wolfe there is so much here to absolutely love.
Rustin is available on Netflix
8/10 B+
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