Morgan Freeman is known for commanding roles thanks to his dulcet tones and charismatic screen presence, and his new movie A Good Person has revived his most successful role in 20 years. Directed by Zack Braff, it stars Freeman as Daniel, a man who’s just lost his daughter to an accidental car crash, and Florence Pugh as Allison, who was driving the car when the crash occurred and managed to survive. Both figures are filled with rage, sorrow, and questions about fairness, but are forced to confront their emotions in order to heal and make something positive out of the pieces of the tragedy.
With a movie career spanning six decades, Freeman has been a staple of a wide variety of cinema, but he’s recently been relegated to broad comedies like Just Getting Started or generic action movies like Angel Has Fallen. As much as he’s known for dramas like Invictus or clever satires like Bruce Almighty, it’s been a while since a movie has really made use of Freeman’s gifts for tapping into the human condition with reverence and authenticity. A Good Person manages to do this by drawing on what worked so well with a role Freeman played over 20 years ago.
A Good Person Repeats Morgan Freeman’s Million Dollar Baby Success
Morgan Freeman and Florence Pugh have been receiving high praise for their chemistry in A Good Person, reminiscent of the same heartwarming interactions he had with Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby. In the movie that garnered him his only Oscar, he plays Eddie “Scrap Iron” Dupris, who, along with Clint Eastwood’s salty old boxing veteran Frankie Dunn, take a chance on a working-class woman named Maggie (Swank) who dreams of making a name for herself in the ring. Eastwood’s character comes across as grizzly and bitter, whereas Freeman’s is much more approachable and thoughtful, allowing him to form an attachment to Maggie that mirrors his dynamic with Allison.
In A Good Person, Freeman’s character is a recovering alcoholic, while Allison has a history of substance use, and the grief from the car crash makes them both drawn to old coping mechanisms to numb the pain. Over the course of the film, however, they find unlikely solace in each other’s company because they recognize how hard it is to keep their minds clear in moments when it’s incredibly painful to face certain thoughts and realities. Just like Scrap does with Maggie, Daniel understands that reminding someone of their capacity to be loved, rather than reminding them of their failures, is the first step to acceptance, recovery, and even forgiveness.
A Good Person Follows Up Million Dollar Baby’s Complexity After 20 Years
Most of the time, Morgan Freeman’s gravitas has him playing authority figures (though Freeman hasn’t played the president as often as fans think) – but A Good Person provides Freeman with the complexity of Million Dollar Baby after 20 years. Daniel tries to take his mind off alcohol and his daughter’s death by building model trains, but it’s a solitary hobby that doesn’t help when his granddaughter needs him to be present. He has to juggle his own need for healing with the responsibilities he has to her, and Freeman’s ability to convey a breadth of emotions, from frustration to regret, is a masterclass of micro expressions.
By the time of the A Good Person movie ending, Daniel doesn’t shy away from blaming Allison for his daughter’s death, but he also knows he can’t blame her more than she blames herself. He knows that shame, one of the cornerstones of addiction, is felt the most by the person who may want to do better but feels helpless to make the necessary change. Freeman is equal parts tender and full of conviction as he uses the wisdom of his years to define “a good person” and give her the grace she can’t give herself, and she honors his daughter’s memory by lending her youthful vigor and helping him raise his granddaughter.