If Beale Street Could Talk is a story of star-crossed lovers separated after a lifetime together by a justice system that is anything but. Will their families be able to get Fonny out? It follows Tish, the soon to be mother of his child, as she narrates her story, past and present, while linking it to the broader story to show that sadly, it is only one of many stories probably as tragic and beautiful as hers, but untold for now. It is Moonlight Barry Jenkins’ sophomore feature film and shows that lightning does strike twice in this adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel.
Jenkins seems to specialize in stubborn star-crossed lovers whose love endures obstacles, but there is still a toll exacted for daring to be happy and trying to live a normal human life. Black love is a phrase that we use and lift up when we see it because it must survive so much individually and collectively that once it does, it is the embodiment of everything that loves means and is at this period in time, one of the greatest loves known to mankind. It makes each individual more of what makes that person special because it is reflected in their beloved’s eyes thus making the couple shine brightly above all others until they are practically floating and appear like secular icons in the church of nature and man.
If Beale Street Could Talk is a symphony of color, not only in the way that Jenkins perfectly captures every shade of black and brown person, which is not a technically easy thing to do, but also in the way that the composition of each scene and the stage direction of each person if taken as a still shot, would make a perfect painting. When we initially see Tish and Fonny walking from overhead, she is yellow, and he is blue. When he is initially shown behind glass, he is wearing blue with a yellow background, and she is green, which shows that she is pregnant (yellow and blue make green). Her home is mostly warm, earthy colors. In a pivotal mood-changing scene with Fonny and his friend, played by the versatile Brian Tyree Henry, telling a real life horror story about monsters, it is Fonny who is on the side of life with a green palette, while his friend is plunged in a brown and black background. They are in the same room. When you watch the movie, it is important to note that the character’s movements, which seem organic and natural, and their surroundings, particularly the colors, are perfectly choreographed to visually and emotionally tell the story and echo the dialogue. Even if it was a silent film, combined with the physical acting, this movie is so expressive that you could still understand what was going on.
The story and the acting is so perfect that it gives the viewer a sense that each individual has a full story outside of the main one that could deserve its own movie. Other than one or two characters, there are no straightforward good guys or bad guys. I could understand how one character, no matter how unlikeable, could become that way. Tish’s parents’ story, which we don’t have background on, seems more remarkable in its thriving endurance, especially compared and contrasted with Fonny’s parents, who only seem to be together because divorce would never cross their lips. Fonny’s mother haunted me as a cautionary tale (dear Lord, never let me be her to someone else). I read all of Baldwin’s books, but have no memories of them, but I imagined her backstory. Because of stress, her husband (Michael Beach was unrecognizable and seemed like he lost weight for this role) began to drink so she resented Tish’s family because when he drank, he got abusive. She retreated into Christianity and respectability politics as consolation and a way to feel superior. Her daughters imitated and sided with her in reaction to their father’s abuse, but Christianity made them just as abusive. They didn’t survive, and their spectre is what haunts Fonny, his possible future. Will stress have the same negative effect on him? In contrast, Regina King, who is a monumental legend and plays Tish’s mom, and Colman Domingo, who plays Tish’s dad, may be best known for his role in Fear The Walking Dead and gets the funniest lines, are the complete opposite. They don’t internalize the stress and lash out at each other. It is an American phenomenon to assign individual blame and self-condemnation for the effects of systematic abuses (in other countries, it sparks a call for collective action), but Tish’s parents escape that vortex and are defiantly countercultural.
If Beale Street Could Talk is just as countercultural. Usually stories such as this one follows the imprisoned person’s plight and catalogues every physically brutal moment, but this story follows the black woman story, an unwed single mother, which is why it makes sense that this film premiered on Christmas day. Her struggles are validated and centralized instead of taken for granted and assumed as a given part of daily life, including but not exclusively the pain of pregnancy and sexual harassment. Her interior life is just as substantial and rich as Fonny’s external sophistication as a sculptor and an appreciator of other languages and cultures. She was supposed to be a housewife and helpmate, and it is quite an accomplishment to keenly feel how robbed she is instead of minimizing her modest ambition. Kiki Layne plays Tish in her acting feature film debut. If this performance is how Layne starts her career, what will she be like as she matures even more.
If Beale Street Could Talk is also an intersectional accomplishment because even as it is immersed in this personal tragedy, it makes rooms for other stories of oppression: the Italian immigrant shopkeeper, the lawyer who risks his career and decides to be an ally, the Jewish landlord who loves love, the Puerto Rican rape victim who flees a possibly exploitive marriage and danger to try and live again only to be retraumatized.
If Beale Street Could Talk’s cast is notable. Even the small supporting roles features big names: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s Diego Luna, Deadpool’s Ed Skrein, Dear White People and Chi-Raq’s Teyonah Parris (I wanted an sidequel devoted to Tish’s sister, Ernestine), Game of Thrones’ Pedro Pascal, The Bridge’s Emily Rios, The Big Short’s Finn Wittrock, and The Disaster Artist’s Dave Franco.
If Beale Street Could Talk is hopefully mournful, beautifully sad. If this movie, which is critically acclaimed, does not receive the same enthusiastic audience response as Moonlight did, it is because the ending is emotionally ambiguous instead of hopeful. In some ways, it is a comparatively happy ending, not as tragic as it could be, but not as happy and conventional as we want it. It demands a preternatural maturity and perspective on compromise and life than we want to admit or face. Jenkins is an expert at depicting compromise, understanding and love as a tricky tightrope, not a craven act or a moment of submission. Survival is key. It seems like the perfect last movie to see in theaters for 2018.