If Beale Street Could Talk is a 2018 crime/drama about a woman in Harlem who desperately scrambles to prove her fiancé innocent of a crime while carrying their first child.
Each year, the Festival du Nouveau Cinema always has a great lineup of films that moviegoers will look forward to. For this edition of the festival, they have selected Barry Jenkins’ latest film If Beale Street Could Talk as their opening title. And now, the festival is off to a great start. Based on a novel written by James Baldwin, Jenkins decides to tell a beautiful story about a woman named Tish (Kiki Layne) trying to prove the innocence of her husband Alonzo “Fonny” (Stephan James) after being wrongfully accused of a crime that he did not commit whatsoever. Known for making the critically acclaimed drama Moonlight, the director should now be a force to be reckoned with as one of the most influential and marvelous filmmakers of this decade.
The film honors what the source material is going for, which is the fact that family is all you need in order to live and be happy. Jenkins elevates the story with its cinematography and editing, and it works quite brilliantly. He’s able to take a simple plot, yet make it so artistically poetic and touching. It’s not easy to transform a straightforward premise into something beautiful, and this definitely showcases Jenkins’ skill as a screenwriter. Many other directors try to do that, but instead their films might come across as either boring and/or convoluted. It does take its time to get going, but you realize that each scene serves a purpose of contributing something important to the story. From start to finish, the director’s script has all the right aspects to develop its characters such as adding some emotional and strong moments.
The two lead actors Layne and James are absolutely phenomenal from start to finish. They bring so much emotion and depth to their characters, and they’re quite compelling. They also have great chemistry with one another, because the romantic aspect is definitely one of the highlights of the entire movie. It’s not just them that are incredible actors, the rest of the cast is also fantastic. Regina King, Colman Domingo and Michael Beach all add something important to the story, and that’s what supporting characters should do. They need to contribute something to the overall narrative, which is something Jenkins also excels at. If they’re just there for the sake of it, then what’s the point? Characters need to be there for a reason, and luckily not one person in the movie feels left out. They all matter, and they all have a reason to be there. The director makes sure the audience will feel some form of connection with these characters, and he does it like a champ.
If Beale Street Could Talk is another worthy example showcasing Jenkins as a gifted filmmaker and storyteller. This is a beautiful piece of cinema with an intriguing premise, great performances and stunning cinematography. As a great follow-up to his previous film Moonlight, this is definitely a movie that you should not miss seeing from a talented director. It’s not every day you get a spectacular movie like If Beale Street Could Talk in theatres these days.