'If Beale Street Could Talk' Review (The Suit Doesn't Fit Both Sides)

If Beale Street Could Talk, the new film from Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins is a film with two sides to it. The first being a romance. The other being about despair and courage in the face adversity. While there is nothing original about romance or despair, it’s about where it comes from that makes it worth watching. Based off a James Baldwin novel from 1974, Beale Street follows the story of an African American couple in both past and present (the present of when the book is set). In the present Fonny is falsely accused of rape and his fiancee Tish is pregnant. In the past, Baldwin tells the story of their growing up and them falling in love.

The biggest compliment I can give Baldwin and Jenkins is that in both past and present they humanise its characters so that their story feels more universal but not without taking away their black identity. There are movies where being black is made a big deal of and others where it isn’t but Beale Street walks the line between both. The romance side of the film doesn't often focus upon race issues so when the film moves to the other side the audience sees three-dimensional characters rather than a person whose whole identity is built around their skin colour. It’s an approach that does well to avoid egregious exploitation to invoke an emotional reaction. Succinctly put Beale St relies on its characters to generate investment rather than a making up for an absence of such using an approach devoid of nuance and full of stereotypes.

Despite Beale Streets skilful and compassionate look at love and systematic hate, its form often distracted. If I had to put Barry Jenkins direction simply, it would be Wong Kar Wai-esque. The association is nothing new. Jenkins has clearly stated the influence. Throughout the film, I was often hesitant of the approach to scenes dealing with hardship and turmoil. An evocative colour scheme paired with ornate camera work never paints the picture that I feel like Baldwin desired. Jenkins is not a realist filmmaker it and I approve that this story isn’t told in such a manner. Though I wish he wasn’t too afraid to let it trickle into his work at specific moments. When the rhythm isn’t allowed to break for dramatic flair a film can flow too well and miss out on certain opportunities. I even recall moments in Moonlight where this is done with precision.

Don’t get me wrong there is plenty of precision going on here too. Jenkins embraces actors looking into the lens, something he only did in Moonlight because he was ahead of shooting schedule and had plenty of film left and the effect here is powerful. Especially when Tish tells her mother she’s pregnant at the beginning and the emphasis is on the eye lines. Also at the start of the film, we meet Tish and Fonny in a park. Then we are lead into the prison meeting area with a sound but its the screen direction that is choice in the direction that impressed me most. The actors have been moved to different sides of the screen. With no indication, it leaves an impressionable change in dynamic on the audience’s subconscious. The finest moments of the film are undoubtedly the ones where Tish and Fonny are spending time together and celebrate their love. This could be when Fonny helps Tish imagine an empty floor of a building as their apartment or when they're walking along the street at night dancing.

I don’t like to complain about movies changing books because each medium has different prerequisites in order to succeed in their respective genres. Yet, here I am, so I’ll make it brief. The film left out a fair few sections of Fonny and Tish growing up which as well as some of the best pieces of narration. One line I really liked was “he was prayed to death”. There was one scene I thought it was going to be included but alas, it wasn’t to be. These two factors of the book, especially the narration were notable omissions for me.

Beale Street is a movie whose formal ambitions only seem appropriate for one half of the film. It starts off strong as the two separate sides of the painting are outlined and said ambitions are concisely addressed. As the film moves forward, however, the two sides are looked at individually and it’s slowly revealed that the parts are more than the sum of their whole. Nevertheless one of these parts is excellent and the film still manages to hit enough emotional points to make it worth your time.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What do you think of If Beale Street Could Talk?

If Beale Street Could Talk is now in cinemas.