12 Years a Slave (2013)

Time is the weakest thing in 12 Years a Slave. Twelve years pass and the film barely shows it, so a stolen stretch of a man’s life can feel like one long season. A famous face also turns up late to say the movie’s point out loud, which it never needed. That is the whole list of problems. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup with his eyes, a free man forced to bury his own name just to stay alive. Lupita Nyong’o as Patsey is devastating, and Michael Fassbender makes Epps frightening because he believes every word of his own cruelty. Steve McQueen holds shots long past comfortable and refuses to let anyone look away from what slavery was. It comes from Northup’s own memoir, and it treats him with real respect. A 9.2 because it is honest, essential and made with care, even when the timeline blurs. $669 says you sit through every name in the credits in silence before you say a word.

What works: Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong’o give performances that stay with you, and Steve McQueen refuses to soften the truth of slavery.

What doesn’t: The film rarely shows time passing, so twelve stolen years can feel compressed, and a late speech states the theme too directly.

Who it’s for: Viewers old enough for an R rating who are ready for a serious, painful piece of American history told with care.