Review of Loving (2016) by Mahmus — 25 Sep 2020

For a movie about such an important topic, it feels pretty empty when it comes to emtion.

It's slow, quiet and oddly distant. I think that's kind of the point. It protrays the Lovings as a very unassuming couple. They didn't care about all the lawer side of the supreme court case, they just wanted the veredict to let them stay together, because they loved each other.

That's the film's biggest strength and weakness. The relationship between these two is very sweet and you can tell they love each other. However, I was left a bit dissappointed when it came to the importance of landmark case.

The film focuses more on the Lovings as a regular couple that just so happens to be interracial, which is great. But by focusing mostly on this, it deprives the audience from witnessing just how important the case as a whole was, since most of it happens off-screen. Making the film a courtroom drama would have been the wrong move, but more courtroom scenes would have been welcome.

Still though, their relationship is lovely and Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton give great and very understated performances, so the final product is defintely worth watching. I just wished it could have had a bigger emotional impact. I love subtle, understated movies, but sometimes it's just nice to feel things, you know?

I will say this however; I certainly did not expect Michael Shannon to show up. Then again, this IS a Jeff Nichols movie, so I probably should have.