An important story about Bayard Rustin with a commanding Colman Domingo performance, but the film is often described as conventional, polished in a generic way, and more dutiful than daring. It works best as a respectful historical drama and a showcase for its lead, less as a fully vital piece of cinema.
31% ★★☆☆☆ (69,567)
Rustin
Where to watch: Netflix
Movie · Drama · History · PG-13
2023 · 1h 48m · ★ 31% (69.6K)
Own your power.
Director: George C. Wolfe
Starring: Colman Domingo, Aml Ameen, Glynn Turman
Overview
Activist Bayard Rustin faces racism and homophobia as he helps change the course of Civil Rights history by orchestrating the 1963 March on Washington.
Director
George C. Wolfe
Production
Higher Ground, Bold Choices
Cast
Colman Domingo, Aml Ameen, Glynn Turman, Chris Rock, Gus Halper, Johnny Ramey, CCH Pounder, Michael Potts, Audra McDonald, Jeffrey Wright, Lilli Kay, Jordan-Amanda Hall, Jakeem Dante Powell, Ayana Workman, Grantham Coleman, Jamilah Rosemond, Jules Latimer, Maxwell Whittington-Cooper, Frank Harts, Kevin Mambo
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
An important story about Bayard Rustin with a commanding Colman Domingo performance, but the film is often described as conventional, polished in a generic way, and more dutiful than daring. It works best as a respectful historical drama and a showcase for its lead, less as a fully vital piece of cinema.
Best for
viewers interested in civil rights history
fans of Colman Domingo
audiences who like prestige biopics
people looking for an accessible introduction to Bayard Rustin
Skip if
you want a formally inventive biopic
you are tired of awards-season historical dramas
you prefer gritty, less polished political films
you need the movie to match the radicalism of its subject
Overview
Rustin tells a story that deserves to be widely known, centering the strategist behind the March on Washington and the prejudice he had to navigate within and beyond the movement. The film’s greatest strength is Colman Domingo, who gives Bayard Rustin intelligence, warmth, force, and vulnerability in a performance that carries the movie’s emotional weight.
Worth noting
As a piece of filmmaking, though, it often plays safely. The staging is efficient, the look can feel flat, and the drama follows familiar biopic rhythms rather than discovering a sharper form for such an extraordinary life. That makes it respectable and often moving, but not especially distinctive.
Bottom line
If you come for history and performance, there is plenty to value here. If you want a film as daring as Rustin himself, this one only partially gets there.
Top Letterboxd reviews
David Sims (2★) · 720 likes
frustratingly stodgy and cheap-looking
Joe A (2.5★) · 715 likes
Colman Domingo quietly proving to the world he’s the best in the business right now, even if it’s in a poorly made Netflix biopic.
davidehrlich (2.5★) · 714 likes
For the most part, George C. Wolfe’s “Rustin” is every bit as broad and garish as you might expect from an awards-baiting Netflix biopic. The fact that this movie about a grievously unsung hero of America’s civil rights movement comes from Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions may only add to the impression of a movie that thinks of itself as a means to an end (even if Higher Ground has maintained a rather impeccable track record thus far).
Paul Thomas (2.5★) · 498 likes
Rustin is a historical figure that lived to take chances and risks and he's honored in a film that refuses to take any chances or risks.
Marianna Neal 🇺🇦 (2.5★) · 417 likes
There's no question that Colman Domingo is a fantastic actor, and he's the best part of the movie by far - his performance really does stand out as a Best Actor contending work. However, the movie itself is a very generic, paint-by-numbers biopic - we always get a few films like this one as we get closer to awards season. The lead performance is the only thing keeping Rustin from a lower rating.