Review: If Beale Street Could Talk

Image courtesy of Annapurna Pictures.

"Every black person born in America was born on Beale Street, whether in Jackson, Mississippi or in Harlem, New York. Beale Street is our legacy," says James Baldwin, referring not only to the Memphis street, but also a shared experience, if you will, for African Americans. In the context of Barry Jenkins' new film, that experience is racism and injustice.

Two years ago, Jenkins was the director of a small, mostly unknown movie, "Medicine for Melancholy," before breaking out with a massive critical hit, "Moonlight," which I still contend is the best sophomore film since the mid- to late-1990s, when Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson came onto the scene. So, following up a picture of that magnitude is a feat - and although "Beale Street" doesn't reach the heights of Jenkins' previous picture, it's still very good and among this year's best.

Based on Baldwin's novel, it tells the story, non-sequentially, of a tragic love affair between a shy young woman named Tish (KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James) in early 1970s Harlem. Fonny is arrested on a false accusation - created by a racist white cop with whom he'd previously had a run-in - that he raped a Puerto Rican woman and thrown in jail. Shortly thereafter, Tish realizes that she is pregnant, and that she'll likely have to raise the child on her own.

The film is narrated by Tish and jumps around in time. As it opens, Tish and her family have invited Fonny's parents and two sisters over to break the news of the pregnancy, and suffice it to say that it doesn't go over too smoothly. Rather than focus heavily on the story, the film drifts back and forth through time in a patient, melancholic manner, and Jenkins' focus is less on narrative than it is on evoking a particular mood and time. The dreamy cinematography, which recalls the work of Wong Kar Wai, and jazz music, which is drifting in from the record players in the characters' apartments, as well as the frequent portrait-like shots of the film's characters go a long way in creating that mood.

During the course of the film, Tish and Fonny find themselves at the mercy of white people's whims. He tells a friend named Daniel (Brian Tyree Henry), whom he hasn't seen for a long time, about how Tish had nearly secured an apartment, but the landlord balked when he found out that Fonny would also be living there. Later, Fonny and Tish are surprised when another white landlord, a young Jewish man played by Dave Franco, rents them an apartment on the grounds that he appreciates meeting people who clearly love each other. A young white lawyer who is representing Fonny at first appears to be all business, but later finds himself at odds with the system for taking up Fonny's case. Then, there's the racist cop who nearly arrests Fonny after he gets into an altercation with another white man, who is harassing Tish at a grocery store.

I bring all of this up - Tish and Fonny's uneasy and occasionally surprising dealings with white people - because it is at the heart of a particularly sad scene that in many ways is pivotal in the picture. Fonny brings Daniel home for a meal after running into him on the street, and finds out that his old pal has recently been released from prison. Daniel tells Fonny that he had been framed for stealing a car, which he didn't do, but had marijuana on him at the time of the arrest. Therefore, he pleaded to stealing the car, although he can't even drive, because it was a lesser charge than having drugs in his pocket. Fonny will later face similar circumstances. During their discussion, Daniel and Fonny speak of such a plight as being the way it is - in other words, injustice in their lives is a given.

Ultimately, "Beale Street" is about relying on love in an unfair world filled with hatred. "You've trusted love this far, so don't panic now, trust it all the way," Tish's mother, Sharon (played by a very good Regina King), tells her daughter as she faces down the prospect of raising a child on her own, while the baby's father is kept behind bars. Jenkins' most recent two films - "Moonlight" and this one - both focus on young people traveling through a cruel world in which the color of their skin often determines their fates, and love is the only antidote. The combination of these two films makes Jenkins one of the most talented and exciting new American filmmakers.