Exhibiting Forgiveness

Tarrell is a Black painter starting to succeed, living by turning the violence of his childhood into pictures. Visiting his mother, he finds his father there. The man has been gone for years; he is out of his addiction and wants to reconcile. Tarrell does not want it. But his mother has forgiven the man and expects the same of her son. The father starts talking, and what he says does not match what Tarrell remembers. This is Titus Kaphar's first film as director. Kaphar is a painter and the film rests partly on his own life; Tarrell's canvases are Kaphar's own work. The narrative does not offer forgiveness as a resolution; its real question is whether forgetting is possible. André Holland plays Tarrell, John Earl Jelks his father, and Andra Day his wife. The film screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024. Who it's for: Viewers who like American independent drama, narratives of reckoning within a family, and films about art. Who it's not for: The memories of violence are shown directly and some scenes are hard to watch. The narrative also gives no comforting close.