Review of If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) by Rebecca31 — 24 Feb 2019

Set in 1970s Harlem, a love story between Tish Rivers (KiKi Layne) and Alonzo Hunt aka Fonny (Stephen James). Their lives are torn apart when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit. Soon after Fonny's arrest 19-year-old Tish discovers she is pregnant with his child. With the help of their families they now must do everything in their power to prove Fonny's innocence.

Director Barry Jenkins creates another powerfully emotional story, it's just if we're comparing films here Moonlight is without a doubt far superior. Sometimes a film's plot moves so painfully slow when it's time to make a statement it's too late because the audience has already fallen asleep. No I didn't love If Beale Street Could Talk, the story moved much too slow for me and I found myself losing interest. The score by Nicholas Britell is just as spectacular as the Moonlight soundtrack. A gorgeous soundtrack that I'm still listening to and if it doesn't win the Oscar for Best Original Score I'll be very surprised. But even with the score, the cinematography and the acting everything seemed unnecessarily dragged out. I didn't feel every scene needed to linger so long, it lost its effect and eventually the whole film felt like it was moving in slow motion. Let me be clear that this film isn't for everyone, if you like the look of the trailer then it's recommended.