Clemency

Gut-wrenching and vital in equal measure, Clemency also provides Alfre Woodard with a role that will define her long and expansive career. She stars as Bernadine, a warden who oversees death-row executions in a maximum-security prison. When she begins preparations for the upcoming execution of an inmate (Aldis Hodge) who maintains his innocence and is awaiting a pardon that may never come, Bernadine's stoic exterior starts to crumble, and those tightly wrapped coils beneath her surface calm begin to snap. Writer/director Chinonye Chukwu offers little relief from the gruelling rhythm of Bernadine's profession, but expertly finds ways to portray her feelings of imprisonment in an environment that has quietly taken its toll on every aspect of her life. With Woodard and Hodge delivering phenomenal performances, Clemency emerges as an extraordinary feat in film-making that is as unflinching as it is poignant.