‘The Big Cigar’ Review: André Holland Is Excellent in an Erratic Biopic
In “The Big Cigar,” contradictions weigh heavily on Huey P. Newton (played by the magnificent André Holland). He sees them everywhere. For instance, Huey notes that the NRA contradicted their general ideology by helping the GOP pass gun control laws in the 1960s, all because they were afraid of the group Newton co-founded: the Black Panthers. He’s also keenly aware of the contradiction inherent to a Black man being “set free” from a prison of bars and stone into the prison of the American way. “Contrary to propagated belief, I’m not living to die, but I am refusing to live without liberation,” Huey says during his opening voice-over narration.
He even acknowledges the contradiction inherent to “The Big Cigar” itself, saying, “The story I’m about to tell you is true. […] But it is coming through the lens of Hollywood, so let’s see how much of my story they’re really willing to show.” Can a product bought and sold by the entertainment industry tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth when doing so might keep them from recouping their investment? Can a story told by many bring clarity to one man’s mission? And is this story willing to take part in the revolution Newton so desperately wanted — that he and so many others needed and still need — or is it merely trying to capitalize off his image? Can it be both?
Developed and executive produced by Jim Hecht, with Don Cheadle on board to direct two of the six episodes, “The Big Cigar” largely observes these contradictions, instead of wielding them toward a greater purpose. It does the very things it says it won’t do, especially in giving Newton’s life the short-shrift in favor of two guilt-ridden white guys. The self-awareness sparks hope that something powerful is waiting around the next corner — a clever subversion of the stories it’s setting up, or a hard pivot into Huey’s perspective — but “The Big Cigar” settles for providing an efficient amalgamation of Hollywood’s snapshot biopics and Ben Affleck’s Oscar-winning feature film “Argo.” (Both are inspired by articles from Joshuah Bearman, and both center around film producers using a fake production to pull off a righteous heist.) That it’s hampered by the former far more than its meta confessions seem to realize is a contradiction that’s never fully rectified.
Still, it’s pretty entertaining. Picking up in 1974, the series mainly focuses on Newton’s escape from America, aided by two movie producers, Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola) and Stephen Blauner (P.J. Byrne), after he was accused of murdering a 17-year-old prostitute. The series doesn’t waste time defending or even discussing the incident, putting the focus squarely on the police harassment Newton faced throughout his life. At a kid, Newton remembers moving from Louisiana to California “expecting it to be different,” but “within two hours, the cops pulled my pops out of the car and roughed him up in front of us.” To its credit, the narrative operates under the easily accepted ethos that, to Huey, the Black Panthers, and Black citizens throughout America, the cops were always operating as “an occupying army in our community.”
The sides are set, and the stakes are clear. Newton has to get out of the country, or the FBI will kill him. So he turns to his friends with money and means, who do what they do best: produce his getaway. Using codenames for each team member, Bert and Stephen concoct a phony film project so they can use their company’s resources and their own fundraising skills to get Newton to Cuba. Sometimes that means acquiring cars or planes, other times it means negotiating with pilots or bribing construction workers. The methods shift as the authorities grow suspicious of their scheme, but it’s all housed under the guise of a movie that will never be made.
Despite having most of the pieces in place, “The Big Cigar” can’t match “Argo’s” tension, because it upends its own narrative with flashbacks about Newton’s life, and because it spends too much time trying to flesh out characters that should’ve been supporting players instead of co-stars. Worse still, the series knows it’s making these mistakes: In the second to last episode, there’s a scene where the group (during sunnier days) discusses making a biopic of the iconic Black Panther leader. “If it’s going to be a biopic,” Bert says, “you have to choose a moment in Huey’s life that means something. Don’t just make it womb to tomb.” Richard Pryor (Inny Clemons), who’s on hand as a friend of Huey’s and an actor invested in the project, says Bert should be in the movie, too. “Don’t put me in it. It’s not my story,” Bert says. “I been around Hollywood long enough to know it ain’t going to get made if a white person isn’t in it,” Lewis responds, and Bert acquiesces. OK. He’s in. Bert stays in the picture.
If Hecht & Co. included this exchange to clearly state their intentions, consider it done. But following through is another matter, and given “The Big Cigar’s” unnecessary and momentum-killing attention to Bert (and his producing partner), the self-conscious conversation also feels like a mea culpa. So many scenes about Bert’s moral compass are squeezed in between all the time jumps meant to give greater context to Newton’s life, which only makes us want more of Huey and less of Bert and leaves the Black Panther’s principles clear but under-scrutinized.
It’s as if the writers thought the only way to get modern audiences behind Newton’s revolutionary ambitions was to make him squeaky clean — a clear-cut hero, like John Shaft (who Newton loved), which just doesn’t fit with a leader who evolved as much as Newton did. Yes, focusing on one part of his life (escaping to Cuba) helps the series from becoming a bloated, predictable slog, but jumping between timelines is exhausting, and major life moments are too often reduced to lip service — traits all too common to the Wikipedia-regurgitating “womb to tomb” biopics “The Big Cigar” is supposed to be avoiding.
And like so many of even the worst biopics, there’s one impeccable element: André Holland. Perfectly cast and delivering a performance filled with equal parts fear, anger, and tenderness, the star of “Moonlight,” “The Knick,” and “High Flying Bird” again commands each scene with a grounded, raw charisma. There’s a scene midway through where Newton is scared for his life. He feels the walls closing in on him, and in between talking over what’s next, he can’t help but to say the unsaid: “I don’t know when it’s coming, man, but it’s coming. I can feel it. Death.” As he speaks, he’s holding a small, white chess piece from the table in front of him. He spins it and squeezes it. He can’t stop fiddling with it, and yet Holland keeps the rest of his features still. All his angst is channeled through his fingers, and the camera picks up just enough of it so you can grasp his tension while listening to his words.
Holland does the same throughout “The Big Cigar”: conveying the many thoughts, many layers, of Huey P. Newton without letting his physical performance overwhelm the weight of his character’s ideas. That he can do all this despite the distractions and hindrances of the story around him only makes you had a little more time; that the show would’ve given itself a little more room to breathe; that the chosen story was as full and rich as Holland’s grasp of its central player. Of course, fulfilling those requests could’ve resulted in a far more conventional biopic, which no one wants. But somewhere within these contradictory desires is a great limited series, and — whether it’s because of Hollywood, the creators, or something else entirely — “The Big Cigar” only gets to be pretty good.
Grade: B-
“The Big Cigar” premieres Friday, May 17 on Apple TV+ with two episodes. New episodes will be released weekly through June 14.
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