Sunday, January 27, 2019

If Beale Street Could Talk
— Barry Jenkins knows how to lovingly tell individual stories that also tell the story of a larger group. In Jenkins’ film, and the James Baldwin novel upon which it is respectfully based, Beale Street represents the street in black neighborhoods throughout the U.S. where the black experience played out and continues to play out. The film tells two related stories from one person’s perspective—one affirming the power of love and the other the power of family. Jenkins looks at how blacks are viewed from a white perspective but, by using one of the black characters as narrator, manages to also look at how the black community sees itself. Although it looks at white oppression and the black struggle in the 1970s, there’s no denying the issues remain largely the same today. Perspectives are further shuffled by shifting forward and back in time so some of the narration is reflective and some of it reactive. What makes all of this work is exquisite cinematography, fine acting, and a score that‘s perfectly woven throughout. There are times where the film nearly lags from slow pans or knowing gazes but the scene usually moves on just in time. If there was anything I might have changed, it would be to have tightened a few such scenes, but it is a gorgeous film no matter what.

[2018. 119 min. Directed by Barry Jenkins. Starring KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King, and Colman Domingo.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/if-beale-street-could-talk-2018

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