If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

The author’s dynamic characterizations of black life drew on distinctive language and precise imagery that defined his sharp critical voice, and it surfaces throughout Jenkins’ drama. With more vitality and humor than “Moonlight,” Jenkins’ reliance on the original text opens up the filmmaker’s style, but he also turns the material into a broader meditation on Baldwin’s broader concerns. Tish’s world exists at that surprising intersection. As the two households engage in a tense war of words, Jenkins’ script combines sassiness with rage, landing on a sharp tone pitched between desperation and unexpected levity.

Still reeling from their son’s uncertain fate, his mother (Aunjanue Ellis) snaps, instigating a sharp reprimand from her husband (Michael Beach). Likewise, when Sharon tells her husband Joseph (Colman Domingo) and Sharon’s feisty older sister Ernestine (Teyronah Parris), their instant celebratory tone brings a fresh dose of levity to Jenkins’ growing filmography: Despite the social and economic hardships the family faces, their unity becomes a centerpiece to the story.įonny’s family doesn’t take the news quite as well. Cinematographer James Laxton’s vivid palette merges with Nicholas Britell’s swooning musical compositions as the movie assembles its narrative out of small moments: When Tish tells her mother Sharon (Regina King) about the pregnancy, Jenkins only includes the beginning of the conversation, with the hesitation on Layne’s face expressing everything about the character’s fears for the future.

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin