“If Beale Street Could Talk”– Movie Review

This week, I attended a New York Times ScreenTimes screening of the new drama, “If Beale Street Could Talk”, written and directed by Barry Jenkins.

Synopsis

When a young man is falsely accused of rape, can his fiancée get him freed from jail?


Story

A young couple in love is always a beautiful thing to behold – even if it does occur in the New York City of the early 1970’s.  In this case, it’s 19 year old Harlem resident Tish (KiKi Layne) and her 23 year old fiancé Alonzo (Stephan James).  Aspiring to a career as a wood carver, Alonzo has been working subsistence jobs so he and Tish can someday marry. As usual, life intrudes upon the simplest of plans – Alonzo is wrongly charged with (and arrested for) the rape of Victoria (Emily Rios), a Puerto Rican woman who lives on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  Their wedding plans are put on hold.

Dutifully visiting Alonzo in jail, Tish must break some news:  she’s pregnant with their child. While Alonzo is certainly delighted, he becomes even more determined to get out before their baby is born.  That’s easier said – in addition to Victoria positively identifying him in a lineup, the racist cop who arrested him claims he saw Alonzo running from the scene of the crime.  Tish and her family work together with Alonzo’s father to earn money to pay for Alonzo’s lawyer, but they suffer a setback once Victoria leaves New York City to live with her family in Puerto Rico. 

Since their only hope is for Victoria to attend the trial and testify the police coerced her into identifying Alonzo, Tish’s mother Sharon (Regina King) flies to Puerto Rico to try to find her.  Upon locating Victoria through an intermediary, a meeting is arranged. Sharon goes to Victoria’s neighborhood and discusses the situation with her, explaining that she has known Alonzo since he was a child and is extremely doubtful about the rape allegation.  Victoria, however, remains traumatized since her attack; while she may concede the possibility Alonzo is innocent, she might not withstand cross-examination during a trial. Will Sharon be able to convince Victoria into giving her testimony or is Alonzo doomed to a long prison sentence? 

 

Review

There is no doubt director Barry Jenkins possesses an arresting and unique style when it comes to visual storytelling, but his screenplay adaptation of the 1974 James Baldwin novel does not well serve its source material.  The forward momentum of the story is frequently halted due to the use of flashbacks, which temporarily take the viewer out of the present day before returning to the story. Apparently, the reason is to provide context for subsequent story beats.  While this may be justifiable in a fictional book, such a structure in a feature film causes the story to suffer from a dramatic standpoint.

“Beale Street” is a worthy follow-up to Jenkins’ award winning “Moonlight” because it is a serious work based on a novel by a noted African-American author.  Its tale, while compelling and still timely 45 years later, is in a somewhat flawed movie – the resolution of which occurs largely off-screen. The audience only learns of it by voiceover narration from Tish.  Why Jenkins chose not to portray this on camera is baffling, almost to the point of being infuriating. This choice results in lower dramatic outcome, substantially detracting from the emotional impact on the viewer.  Since this should have been the main thrust of the film, it is indeed something of a curiosity.

Following the interview was an interview with screenwriter and director Barry Jenkins.  Jenkins said he travelled to Brussels, Belgium where he wrote his first draft of the screenplay adaptation of Baldwin’s novel in about a month.  He did this at great risk since he hadn’t officially purchased the rights to the book. After submitting his script to The Baldwin Estate, which is very protective of the writer’s legacy, Jenkins went on to make “Moonlight” while awaiting their response.  Subsequently, Jenkins received a package from The Estate containing a 1978 notebook in which Baldwin had written his own incomplete version of the adaptation, which was quite similar to Jenkins’ own work.

“Widows”– Movie Review

This week, I attended a New York Times Screentimes screening of the new crime drama, “Widows” starring Viola Davis and Michelle Rodriguez and directed by Steve McQueen. 

Synopsis

When a trio of women console each other after their husbands die in the course of a heist, will their plan to make an even bigger score succeed or get them arrested?

Story

Harry (Liam Neeson) didn’t exactly live an honorable life, so it probably makes sense that his death wasn’t very honorable either.  While robbing campaign donations from the headquarters of Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry), a candidate for Alderman of Chicago’s 18th Ward, Harry and his gang perish when their van blows up – which also burned all of their loot.  Furious, Manning sends some thugs after Veronica (Davis), Harry’s widow, to recover the money.  But when Veronica tells him that she doesn’t have it, she receives threats – she must come up with the money some way. 

During her period of both mourning and panic, Veronica finds a notebook that contains a detailed plan of the next robbery Harry was scheming.  Realizing that the theft could net more than enough to pay back Manning, she decides that she can’t do this by herself.  As a result, Veronica enlists the aid of Linda (Rodriguez) and Alice (Elizabeth Debicki)  the other women whose husbands died as members of Harry’s gang.  Convinced that they could make enough money from this escapade to ensure them a lifetime of security, Linda and Alice join forces with Veronica. 

But things are not going to be quite as easy as they may have seemed at first.  Veronica discovers that they’re going to steal the money from Manning’s opponent, Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell), who is favored to win because his father (Robert Duvall) was the long-time Alderman of that district before his retirement.  Given the extraordinary level of security around Mulligan’s compound, this won’t be an easy task – especially when you consider the fact that these women are inexperienced at this.  Can they successfully pull off the job or will they be caught in the act?

Review

While seeking to empower women, one question must be asked about “Widows”:  Are women really empowered when they choose to break the law? In the case of this story, the crimes are burglary and murder (there is also prostitution, but perhaps that can be overlooked given the nature of the other offenses).  Based on the ending of the movie, we are given to understand that these characters have both sought and attained some form of redemption for themselves. If that’s true, then one might be left to inquire, “Yes, but at what cost?”. Clearly, their morals and ethics have been further compromised, compared to where each character started at the beginning of this film. 

There are some technical aspects of “Widows” that are difficult to justify.  Structurally speaking, the story doesn’t really start until about three quarters of an hour through; by “start”, what is meant here is that the women don’t agree to the heist until about 45 minutes into the movie, so it’s a bit slow to start.  Also, there’s the matter of a character arc. Do these women really have one? It seems that by the end, they are all back to where they started, so it’s more of a circle than an arc. What might have been more interesting is if they were so seduced by their involvement in crime that they became interested in pulling off another job (which also would’ve suggested a sequel).   

Following the screening was an interview with director Steve McQueen.  McQueen said that what fascinated him about the story was the idea of how each woman would negotiate their own personal domestic situation.  Additionally, he liked the concept of there being multiple narratives: the heist itself, the political/election aspect and the emotional journey each woman was taken through as they deal with their grief from the loss of their partner.  This also led to multiple strands of movement, pacing and speed, with each strand being interwoven with the others. As far as the characters are concerned, he says that he tried to make a movie where the audience would see someone like themselves on screen.