Review of If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) by James R — 15 Jan 2019

What a movie. This would have easily made my top ten films of 2018 if I had caught it during its limited release. Director Barry Jenkins last film Moonlight (2016) was one of my favorites of that year and here he goes starting to easily become one of my favorite newer directors.

Based on the 1974 novel of the same name by James Baldwin If Beale Street Could Talk is a love story about a young lady named Tish Rivers (KiKi Layne) who at the age of 19 is pregnant with her fiance Fonny (Stephan James).

The problem is Fonny is in prison for a crime he did not do (and couldn't have possible done). The film is set in the early 1970's and there's a lot of racial prejudice going on and Fonny and Tish are just experiencing it first hand.

Along with her mother Sharon (Regina King) and father Joseph (Colman Domingo) Tish works hard to try and get Fonny out of jail before the birth of their child. That's the story in a nutshell. We get voiceover from Tish explaining how life is, how her love for Fonny started, and just about everything leading up to Fonny's arrest.

I don't say this too often, but this is a downright beautiful movie. It's one of those movies that you're going to think about for days after. It's a movie that goes over love. How powerful love can be between two people to get you through the hardest times in life.

It shows sections and moments that I can only describe as absolutely breathtaking and something thats just relatable. On the flip side the movie also powerfully goes over how crooked the system was and is for people of color.

Fonny is caught up in some straight BS. He is targeted by a racist cop and it basically ruins his damn life. It's frustrating and very angering, but that's part of the beauty of this film. Barry Jenkins takes you on a roller coaster of emotions.

One moment your in awe because you're witnessing some beautiful love story then it brings you back down because then you're witnessing a girl get attacked. It's hard to explain, but it just works so well and I have to commend Jenkins on the direction this movie takes.

The cinematography is wonderful here. I literally loved the way things are shot. There are a lot of direct on head shots as though the characters are looking right at you. It just makes you feel what's going on.

It immersed me a lot into the film and I liked all the characters even more. Not to mention the lightning in this movie is great and I never bring that up. Two scenes in particular stood out. When Tish and Fonny get approved for a new home and are celebrating on the street.

..I kid you not maybe the best lighting I've ever seen to set the mood just damn right. I'm a sucker for any kind of movie shot during dawn (American Graffiti (1973) always comes to mind) and this was a prime example of it done right as well as the scene where Sharon goes to Puerto Rico.

Lastly the performances. Newcomer KiKi Layne was great in this one and I really felt for her, but Stephan James as Fonny was fantastic. I recall him being in Selma (2015) and that's about it, but I enjoyed all of his scenes.

He has a very powerful kind of aura to him that bleeds through to his character it's all very believable. One more special shoutout was Colman Domingo as Joseph Rivers (Tish's father) he was fantastic and I hope to see more of him in movies like this.

Overall, if you couldn't tell this is one of those films that is sad, but it's sad and beautiful in it's own way. I can't recommend it enough. Check it out.