IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK – Review

Appreciating the little moments, those intimate magical interactions with another that can never be replicated or taken away from you… that’s what interests director Barry Jenkins. After his deeply emotional story of a young man coming to terms with his identity in MOONLIGHT, his followup is an adaptation of the classic James Baldwin novel. It’s a love story set in Harlem in the 1970s told through glances, smiles, tears, screams, and faces. It’s as if to prove that despite the obstacles that stand in our way, nothing can stand between a pair of eyes connecting with another – not even prison glass.

Tish Rivers (screen newcomer KiKi Layne) is a mother-to-be. Her family celebrates the announcement, but the family of her artist fiancé Alonzo Hunt, who goes by the name Fonny (Stephan James), blames Tish for ruining the life of her son. Through a series of flashbacks, we see the childhood friends slowly turn into lovers and plan their life together. That is until everything gets derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit.

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK unfolds as if journal entries bleed out from the page onto the screen. We see Tish and Fonny’s emotions in every action and their thoughts as they gaze deep into the camera. Cinematographer James Laxton captures faces like no one else. He approaches the characters with patience and lets each shot breathe power and humanity into the moment. Nicholas Britell’s poetic and somber score harmoniously punctuates the painterly imagery. It’s an ever-present score that some might argue is a bit manipulative, but I found it a perfect compliment to the gentle approach Jenkins takes to the story.

Layne and James make for an electric couple. While they both seem to act and match one another’s tone perfectly – almost too perfectly – in their scenes together, it is the scenes where they are apart from one another where they each work on a different level. A scene early on where Tish and her family invite Fonny’s family over for the birth announcement erupts in unexpected fireworks. Jenkins masterfully lets the pot slowly boil with anticipation of spilling over and lets the scene come to a crash at just the right moment. Layne plays Tish as unpredictable in this scene, as you never know when she will recoil into her natural timid disposition or lash out with emotion – something that later comes to play in a pivotal moment in the film. Later, Fonny catches up with an old friend played by the incomparable Bryan Tyree Henry (from ATLANTA and earlier this year in WIDOWS). As his long-lost friend recounts his time in prison with great humility and deep-seated fear, James plays Fonny initially as a friend with a listening ear and then someone who is suddenly shaken from his idyllic life of love and artistry. It’s amazing how much Barry Jenkins is able to relay in a scene where two characters are simply sitting at a table sharing beers together.

What’s not said is just as important as what’s said in Jenkins’ adaptation of Baldwin’s novel. Discussions of discrimination and mistreatment are just as prevalent as expressions of love in IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, but it is the characters’ unspoken fear of what is to come in the future that screams the loudest and is felt the most by the audience. In the end, Jenkins has made another resounding film about hope and the lack of hope – a dichotomy that is still a part of the black experience. As if he is saying that love and hope can still be heard even when there are walls between us.

Overall score: 4.5 out of 5

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK is now playing in select theaters.