Review of If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) by Andrew O — 07 Jan 2019

Based on the book by James Baldwin and from the director of 'Moonlight'.

Full of emotional, captivating performances by its leads even if they aren't huge household names.

Baldwin wrote that there's a Beale Street everywhere from New Orleans to Harlem, for every black they feel a strong attachment.

In this particular story a man and a woman from two families collide; they meet, fall in love, consumate their relationship, she ends up getting pregnant but unfortunately he ends up going to prison for a crime he didn't commit.

So they cope with it and struggle to find a way to prove his innocence.

Considering how much blacks have been mistreated in America it's easy to point fingers, it's not hard to see why the white man can be percieved as the devil, when it comes to incarceration that can change many people's perspective, is it still a sin if a child is born due to these circumstances?

The film is a bit slow in spots but it relies heavily on its effective players and is told almost like a stage play broken up into 3 acts.

James Baldwin is still a very powerful and personal storyteller when it comes to his works.

We can trust love all the way to get through the highs and lows, we live the life we're given so our children can be free, the truth is the system is rigged and can't be fair to all.

Worth the wait.