On the one hand, Lee Daniels’ The Deliverance is a conventional and well-regarded home drama about a matriarch (Andra Day) juggling her alcoholism, family responsibilities, and a tumultuous relationship with her mother (Glenn Close). However, it also marks the director’s experimentation with the paranormal. Here, Daniels—director of romantic movies including The Butler and Precious—examines hauntings and draws spiritual truths from them. Both story lines might coexist or converge in a peaceful way, and Daniels intended for them to inform one other, as the movie’s structure makes clear. However, The Deliverance is far too fragmented, and complete cohesion is rarely achieved in the mix.
Daniels recounts the tale of Ebony (Day), a single mother battling not only the vengeful forces but also financial difficulties and state surveillance. Daniels draws inspiration from the true story of LaToya Ammons, an Indiana woman who claimed that malevolent spirits lurked in her home and possessed her children. As Ebony and her son Andre (Anthony B. Jenkins) finalize their move into a new home in Pittsburgh in 2011, the movie begins on a heartwarming note. Andre, a young child who feels most at ease with his imagined companions, has recently completed a detailed mural that will cover one wall of the room he shares with his brothers.
The Deliverance
The Bottom Line
Never quite finds it footing.
Release date: Friday, Aug. 16 (select theaters); Friday, Aug. 30 (Netflix)
Cast: Andra Day, Glenn Close, Mo’Nique, Anthony B. Jenkins, Miss Lawrence, Demi Singleton
Director: Lee Daniels
Screenwriter: David Coggeshall and Elijah Bynum
Rated R,
1 hour 51 minutes
Ebony’s mother, Alberta (Close), worships at church alongside her older children, Nate (Caleb McLaughlin) and Shante (Demi Singleton), while they are setting up. Subsequent scenes depict the growing conflicts within the family: Alberta, who recently converted to Christianity, is critical of Ebony’s parenting style and how she raised the children. In the meantime, the children’s nomadic lifestyle and ongoing poverty have worn them down. At the dinner table, their father’s absence looms due to his recent deployment to the war.
Working from a screenplay by David Coggeshall and Elijah Bynum, Daniels introduces the haunting gradually. The Deliverance’s first part provides a glimpse into the family’s existence in an effort to increase audience engagement. Alberta undergoes weekly chemotherapy treatments to treat her cancer, while Ebony finds it difficult to control her fury. While Andre finds solace in seclusion, Nate battles with neighborhood bullies, and Shante worries about their father’s impending return home.
Eli Arenson, the director of photography, provides assured direction, with close-up images of every family member serving as the scenes’ focal points. The majority of the details are found in the relationship between Alberta and Ebony. Here, Daniels delves into the stresses and conflicts that arise between a mixed-race girl and her Caucasian mother, once more using broad yet adequate brushstrokes. Standing in the periphery of this family’s existence is Cynthia (Mo’Nique, signaling her return to working with Daniels), a Child Protective Services caseworker entrusted with determining whether Ebony abuses her children.
She does, and Daniels portrays these instances as the unsettling outcome of trauma passed down through the generations rather than as sensationalistic transgressions. Alberta mistreated Ebony as well before she discovered Jesus. Day, who co-wrote The United States vs. Billie Holiday with Daniels, demonstrates her versatility once more in The Deliverance. Instead of using dramatic physicality to soften Ebony’s harsher edges, she embraces her coarseness and finds tender threads in the independent mother’s feisty nature. Day fulfills the duties of her matriarchal role as well, providing the other performers with a strong foundation on which to build their performances. There is some appearance of cohesiveness here, in contrast to other places in The Deliverance.
Cracks appear in Daniels’ film as well as in Ebony’s family due to the supernatural. A dead bird, weird footsteps, and creaking doors are typical indicators of a ghostly presence. Andre strikes into a conversation with Tre, a character who challenges him to carry out cunning actions. However, Daniels misjudges our level of patience for suspense in this scene. Eventually, Ebony’s children are taken over by the demons, and the mother is left in need of assistance. Rev. Bernice James (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, brief but impactful) becomes her savior.
The Deliverance loses whatever power it had before the evil spirit takes control of the narrative. The attempt to combine horror with personal drama is not nearly as successful as it could be if Daniels had not relied on cheesy techniques to depict the rivalry between these vengeful ghosts and Ebony. His attempt to draw a clear meaning from the mother’s experience and steer the audience toward a singular resolution inadvertently steers The Deliverance into cheesy and depressingly cartoonish territory.
Full credits
Distributor: Netflix
Production companies: Tucker Tooley Entertainment, Lee Daniels Entertainment, Turn Left Production
Cast: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Demi Singleton, Demi Singleton, Demi Singleton, Tasha Smith, Omar Epps, Glenn Close, Mo’Nique, Anthony B. Jenkins, Miss LawrenceDirector: Lee Daniels
Screenwriters: David Coggeshall and Elijah Bynum
Producers: Lee Daniels, p.g.a; Tucker Tooley, p.g.a.; Pamela Oas Williams, p.g.a.; Jackson Nguyen, Todd Crites
Executive producers: Jackie Shenoo, Hilary Shor, Greg Renker, Gregoire Gensollen
Director of photography: Eli Arenson
Production designer: Steve Saklad
Costume designer: Paolo Nieddu
Editor: Stan Salfas, ACE
Music: Lucas Vidal
Casting director: Billy Hopkins and Ashley Ingram
Rated R,
1 hour 51 minutes
