If Beale Street Could Talk
A Harlem woman scrambles to prove her fiancé's innocence while carrying their first child in this drama from Oscar-winning Moonlight writer-director Barry Jenkins, based on the novel by James Baldwin (whose observations on civil rights and American racism formed the backbone of Oscar-nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro).
Co-star Regina King picked up an Oscar and Golden Globe for her supporting role, and is nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar along with the film's other potential Academy Awards, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score.
"Tish (KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James) have known each other since childhood, but only latterly discovered that the safe, easy familiarity between them has bloomed into a love so intoxicating it promises everlasting joy and happiness. But life is not destined to be so easy for a young black couple living in 1970s Harlem. Fonny is falsely accused of a rape and an unjust judicial system refuses to acknowledge the impossibility of his having committed the crime. Tish and her family struggle to exonerate him." (London Film Festival)
Best Supporting Actress (Regina King), Golden Globes 2019 & Academy Awards 2019
2018Rating: M, Violence, offensive language & sex scenes117 minsUSA
CrimeDrama
- Director:
- Barry Jenkins ('Moonlight', 'Medicine for Melancholy')
- Writer:
- Barry Jenkins
- Cast:
- KiKi LayneStephan JamesRegina KingColman DomingoTeyonah ParrisMichael BeachAunjanue EllisEbony Obsidian
If Beale Street Could Talk / Reviews
Flicks, Blake Howard
Director Barry Jenkins' follow-up to the critically acclaimed Moonlight is a beautiful drama full of rich and interesting performances.
Full reviewVariety
A work of social realism elevated to poetic heights by the sheer beauty of its voice and the humanism of its spirit...
Full reviewVanity Fair
The strength of KiKi Layne's performance is in how wonderfully it toes the line between youth and wisdom, helplessness and self-determination.
Full review
The Times
If Beale Street Could Talk becomes a chronicle of crushed innocence and systemic injustice, but also a poetic paean to the healing power of love.
Full review
The Guardian
It's a film with love at its root, both familial and romantic, and Jenkins fills so much of it with a radiating warmth.
Full review
Stuff
Strip away the stylistic flourishes and the result is a familial and political drama that's dramatically the equal of Lee Daniel's Precious or Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit.
Full review
Hollywood Reporter
If the movie's slow burn seems to build toward a powerful release that doesn't materialise, the sheer beauty of its craft and the heartfelt feeling behind every scene nonetheless command attention.
Full review
Collider
You can see the broad outline of what Jenkins wanted to accomplish with If Beale Street Could Talk, but the inside is hollow.
Full review
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