With a title like “Exhibiting Forgiveness,” it’s immediately apparent this is serious cinema, far from superhero fantasies or raunchy comedy.

And that’s exactly what André Holland likes about this intensely felt, beautifully expressed Black family drama where he’s a successful painter, happily married with a son but still traumatized by the abusive father of his youth.

“I feel,” Holland, 44, said in a Zoom interview, “like I’m one of these people who really believes — and it’s hard to say this and not sound hyperbolic — but I actually believe that art can transform society and human beings.

“So I like to choose projects that I feel have the ability to have some sort of impact on the way we live and treat each other. That’s not to say that I only want to do those things.

“I’m also open to doing things that are just entertaining and fun. Because that also has a place and a power. For me, it doesn’t feel like a burden. It doesn’t feel difficult.

“It’s actually like Shakespeare says in ‘The Tempest,’ ‘It makes my labors pleasures.’

“It’s a joy to get to do it. I’m grateful that I was raised in a family who taught me the importance of the work and who have made me feel responsible to the community.

“So I bring that with me, man. I try to bring it to everything that I do.”

His work, from the Oscar-winning Best Picture “Moonlight” to “The Big Cigar” miniseries as ‘60s radical, Black Panther Huey P. Newton, supports that claim.

“Exhibiting Forgiveness” contrasts the outwardly successful life of Holland’s artist whose canvases sell instantly with debilitating panic attacks, residue of horrible cruelties and abuse his father, a drug addict, inflicted on him.

“He had been using his art as a way of expressing that trauma,” Holland said. “But events force him to confront his father. By the end, he’s a changed man.”

Is it easy to commit to roles? Does he agonize, read the script and ponder, Can I do this?

“Oh, I ponder long and hard. I frustrate people with my pondering. But it’s important to me to consider it.

“Because sometimes there’s this attitude like, ‘Well, if you get offered a part, or an opportunity, you should just take it. Because there’s so few parts out there and you’re just lucky because there’s so many actors who want to work.’

“That’s true and I certainly am grateful for every opportunity that I have to act. It is a privilege. And at the same time, it’s a responsibility. So I do want to take my time and not just jump into things willy nilly.”

“Exhibiting Forgiveness” opens Friday

Andre Holland plays an artist in “Exhibiting Forgiveness.” (Photo courtesy Roadside Attractions)