How 'Antebellum' Builds Dread with Gabourey Sidibe's Laugh-Out-Loud Performance
'Antebellum' benefits from an unexpected structure that drops you into the life of an enslaved person on a Southern plantation, played by Janelle Monáe, then jumps back to her present-day life before she was stolen away. In that previous existence, Gabourey Sidibe and Lily Cowles steal more than a moment as her best friends on a girls' night to remember that also works to ratchet up the dread of the ensuing return to the plantation.