Review of If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) by Markhreviews — 06 Jan 2019

From the first scene, “If Beale Street Could Talk” grabs you by the throat and never lets go. Writer/Director Barry Jenkins (writer/director of “Moonlight” which won Best Picture Oscar in 2016) has again written a script with universal appeal. Composer Nicholas Britell’s powerful underscoring strengthens and heightens the viewer’s sense of anxiety and impending cataclysm. James Laxton’s cinematography, particularly with its use of extreme close-ups, serves up a series of visual images that dare the viewer to flinch and look away, creating a film that is literally “in your face.” Voiceovers that quote directly from James Baldwin’s 1974 book by the same name serve the dual purposes of accelerating the arc of the story while also demonstrating Baldwin’s near-poetic eloquence. This is a film as mesmerizing as it is upsetting.

“Beale Street” is filled with heart, courage, remorse and simmering indignation. James Baldwin once said, “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” The story of Fonny and Tish is, or should be, a source of genuine rage for anyone with a conscience, regardless of race. Childhood friends and eventual sweethearts, Fonny and Tish grow up together, fall in love and eventually begin to build a life together. Just as Tish discovers she is pregnant, Fonny is falsely accused of rape and jailed. The balance of the film chronicles the efforts of Tish, her family and others to secure his release. The film’s final scene, in its ambiguity, is more powerful and more devastating than the artificially crafted “drama” we see so often before the closing credits roll. The messages in this film are consistently hard-earned.

There are a few minor false notes. Fonny’s intensely religious, “holy roller” mother is condescending, overly dramatic and entirely unappealing. In fairness, though, this portrayal may simply be furthering Baldwin’s critique that Christianity is often used to discourage blacks from rising up against injustice by encouraging a focus on the rewards of the afterlife.

The cast here is simply spectacular. As Tish, KiKi Layne delivers a breakout performance. Tish is vulnerable, strong, resilient, totally authentic. Stephan James (nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor for Amazon Prime’s “Homecoming” this year) is equally compelling as Fonny, conveying with conviction his courage, strength, sensitivity, doubt and dignity in the face of inhumanity. Regina King (with roles ranging from1991’s “Boyz in the Hood” to this year’s “Seven Seconds”) is an archetype of the wise, powerful, strong woman.

At no point does Jenkins’ screenplay vilify whites indiscriminately. In fact, most of the white characters in the film are portrayed as earnestly sympathetic. Jenkins, through Baldwin’s source material, has a much bigger point to make: that American society, despite the good intentions of many, has utterly failed to offer liberty or justice for all. It’s an accusation that is jarring and painful, but ultimately impossible to refute. This bleak outlook is softened, however, by the suggestion that even if love doesn’t conquer all, it can allow life’s unfairness to become a shared burden.