Although she has one Oscar nomination, a Golden Globes victory and a handful of Emmy wins in a sea of nominations, I think we still think of Alfre Woodard as a character actress. The truth is she makes everything look effortless, whether it’s co-starring as a villain in Luke Cage or headlining the searing emotional drama Clemency, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.
Clemency stars Woodard as a prison warden in a failing marriage who strikes up an unexpected bond with a death row inmate. Woodard is joined by rising star Aldis Hodge, who has been killing it lately in Brian Banks, Hidden Figures, and even What Men Want. Somehow he was good in that, too. The rest of the stellar cast includes Wendell Pierce, Richard Schiff, and Danielle Brooks.
SYNOPSIS: How do you salvage your marriage when you are struggling to salvage your soul, your sense of self, and your sense of right and wrong? Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard) is a prison warden who, over the years, has been drifting away from her husband while dutifully carrying out executions in a maximum-security prison. When she strikes up a unique bond with death-row inmate Anthony Woods (Aldis Hodge), a layer of emotional skin is peeled back, forcing Bernadine to confront the complex—and often contradictory—relationship between good intentions, unrequited desires, and what it means to be sanctioned to kill.
Written and directed by Chinonye Chukwu, Clemency opens on December 27th, giving Woodard the high-profile slot of an awards contender.
