A film blog
Barry Jenkins
IF BEALE STREET
COULD TALK
2018 ‧ Romance/Drama
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If Beale Street Could Talk
Recently, I watched Barry Jenkins’s If Beale Street Could Talk. Watching this film at the cinema was one of the few occasions where I found myself captivated by the screen. If Beale Street Could Talk is a rhapsodic and romantic film, but also has an undertone of melancholy and inevitability.
It is a dreamlike and languid movie which is affecting both viscerally and emotionally. It is a story about love; both romantic love and the love within a family. Despite the injustice at its core, the story focuses on the depth of love and its restorative power. As the narrative intercuts between the central characters' childhood, their romance and jail, the audience becomes more invested in their story.
This is reflected in Jenkins’s exquisite close-ups. The close-ups are cross-cut to reveal the aching intimacy between Fonny and Tish as they look at each other or hold hands. This suggests the initial stages of love and invites the audience into their relationship. These close-ups further suggest an intimacy between character and audience which allows the audience to feel a strong sense of empathy towards the characters and the the injustice at the core of the narrative. This is most evocative, when one realises underlying the tale of romance is the stark reality that Fonny has been wrongly convicted of rape and will be in prison for a long time.
There is a radiant warmth to this film right from the opening aerial shots as the audience looks down upon the intimacy of a young couple in a loving embrace. The musical accompaniment of lush strings (composed by Nicholas Britell) adds texture to this mesmerising exploration of love. What Jenkins does so well is capture those first moments of falling in love with somebody, and his poetic camera work and musical accompaniment work together beautifully to create the simmering atmosphere of the film.
Underlying this film is the stark reality of the African American male and the prison industrial complex. Jenkins manages to convey a keen sense of loss in regard to Fonny’s wasted potential not just as a lover and father, but as an artist. Indeed, one of the compelling moments of the film is when Fonny sits with his cigarette contemplating a piece of sculpture he has just completed. The screen is filled with smoke and the camera tracks around his art-work in symphony with strains of Miles Davies. This moment emphasises Fonny’s potential and his calling in life.
Official Trailer
In conversation with...
Barry Jenkins, Stephan James & KiKi Layne Discuss "If Beale Street Could Talk"