The Justice of Bunny King
The stigma of poverty and being poor is a tough one, almost equal to the one of being an ex-convict. In “The Justice of Bunny King,” both stigmas are on display in the life of Bunny King (Essie Davis), a mother whose been struggling to build a life for herself so she can get her children out of the foster system. Davis is an absolute force of nature in whatever she does, and one of the things that’s so compelling about her here is how that is tempered by an anxiety about doing things in a way that works around the system, but gets her what she wants. It’s a great performance.
Bunny is typically out by the busy traffic stops cleaning windshields for people, in hopes of getting some money to pay for a home. She’s living with her sister and her husband and her niece, Tonyah (Thomasin McKenzie). She gets supervised time with her kids, but she always seems to push it in hopes of some unsupervised time. When it comes to finding a home, the system of checks and balance in place- while understandable- seem to be working against her. And when she sees something at her sister’s house, that situation becomes untenable, so her situation is even more precarious, especially with a birthday coming up.
The screenplay by Stephanie Henderson- who came up with the story with Gregory King and director Gaysorn Thavat- is very serious, but also has some moments that could be comedic, as well, like Bunny and Tonyah sleeping in an apartment for rent one night, or Bunny trying to get some presents for her daughter for her birthday, but the film maintains a level of drama in even those moments that is effective, and honest. Bunny is trying her best, and that’s the thing that ultimately is what we latch on to. We find out early on why she was in jail, but we don’t get the full picture until later, and we’ve seen- in her actions- that she is nothing if not consistent. Davis is terrific in showing us Bunny’s desperation, as well as her tenacity, and McKenzie- as Tonyah- is actually a good person for her to bounce off of, someone close enough to her to care, but also with enough distance from her to call her out when she’s really doing something counterproductive. The film ends with Bunny and Tonyah barricaded in a government office, waiting for her children to be brought to her so she can celebrate a birthday. It may seem a bit much, but it’s indicative of the larger discussion of how we criminalize people when society seems to fail them, even when they are trying to do the right thing. The film sometimes seems to have a tone issue as it tells Bunny’s story, but when it lands on said tone, it’s as affecting as any movie we’ve gotten this year.
