HBO has released the Native Son trailer. Directed by Rashid Johnson from a screenplay by Suzan-Lori Parks based off the acclaimed novel by Richard Wright, the story follows Bigger Thomas (Moonlight’s Ashton Sanders in a riveting performance), a young man on the south side of Chicago who takes a job working as a driver for an affluent white family. I caught Native Son at Sundance last month, and the first half of the film is incredibly strong with Johnson showing himself as a director to watch and Sanders giving a captivating performance as the quiet, volatile Bigger. However, …

When Richard Wright’s novel Native Son was published in 1940, it was understandably met with a mix of acclaim and controversy. The book aims to not only chronicle the African-American experience, but how America at large shapes and dictates the lives of African-Americans living in it—it touched on a sense of stark inevitability for many at the time. Updating the book for the 21st century is an ambitious if admirable task, and while director Rashid Johnson in his feature debut shows tremendous talent and promise behind the camera, and the lead performance by Ashton Sanders is …