Native Son

Bigger Thomas is a young Black man living with his mother and siblings in Chicago's South Side. He spends his days with friends and his girlfriend Bessie, and he keeps a gun on him. Wanting something better for himself, he takes a job as a driver for the wealthy Dalton family. In their household he meets Mary Dalton, the daughter, whose progressive views and openness draw him into a world of money and influence far removed from his own. That contact sets off a chain of events that puts him at odds with the powerful people he works for.

The film is an adaptation of Richard Wright's 1940 novel of the same name. Rashid Johnson directed it from a screenplay by Suzan-Lori Parks, with Ashton Sanders playing Bigger. Margaret Qualley appears as Mary, Nick Robinson as Jan Erlone, KiKi Layne as Bessie, Bill Camp as Henry Dalton and Sanaa Lathan as Trudy Thomas. Twenty performers are credited.

Native Son was released in 2019 and runs 104 minutes. Reception was mixed: on IMDb it holds 5.7/10 from around 3,100 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 5.5/10 from roughly 92 votes, suggesting a small but divided audience. A critics' rating of 6.1/10 from 52 reviews places professional assessments slightly above the audience scores.