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WWith his third film, writer-director Barry Jenkins carries with him an unattainable weight, like the one he was less responsible for when creating Moonlight in 2016. Before that, he had made a small-scale drama titled Medicine for Melancholy, and few of us knew how far would go his follow-up, since obtaining an enthusiastic festival craze until becoming the best winner of & # 39; 39, an Oscar of the image. Two years later, he returns with a wider and more hungry audience and his decision to adapt a much-loved novel by James Baldwin attaches an even higher level of anticipation and unjust but inevitable pressure.
If If Beale Street Could Talk has a more structured scenario than Moonlight, it is still far from conventional, Jenkins telling his story via a story changing and hopping over time. The story focuses on Tish (Kiki Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James), childhood friends who become lovers but whose connection is put to the test when Fonny is wrongly accused of rape. While he is waiting for his trial behind bars, Tish discovers that she is pregnant and, with the help of his entourage, strives to have him released before the arrival of the baby.
It is a film with love at once, family and romantic, and Jenkins gives a radiant warmth. The decision to go back and forth in history allows us to understand and invest in the central relationship, and the way it passes the first steps of the fall to a person is tricky. These are the little moments that make you realize and, as he showed us in Moonlight's heartbreaking dinner scene, he has the ability to recognize the important subtleties of body language. By pairing newcomer Layne with James, best known for playing Jesse Owens in Race, he found a couple whose chemistry would charm and captivate – at every scene we feel more engaged and then enraged when they are separated.
As a black man in America, Fonny is the victim of a system cruelly stacked against him and Jenkins incorporates indignation into his film without the heavy hand. The anger provoked by an unbearable injustice is replaced by the sadness of the seemingly insurmountable loss of artist, husband and father that he may never be, and the loss of consciousness of Fonny. But there is always optimism and an unqualified belief in the healing power of love. Jenkins' love for the material shines, but the disadvantage is that it can often blur the vision. He talked about his desire to stay true to the text and sometimes, especially with Tish's narration, the dialogue can be too verbose, too constructed for the screen. The languid rhythm and unconventional structure work most of the time, but sometimes they can seem a bit blurry, with some scenes failing to land with the same devastating impact (Dave Franco's cameo as a sentimental owner).
Yet our attention continues because Jenkins remains a constantly evolving visual artist. The film is very beautiful, each image is composed with art and each choice of the song perfectly matches. With a larger canvas and what appears to be a larger budget than the one he had for Moonlight, Jenkins has created a film rich in persistent images, without it being overexposed too much. Working with a bigger cast, he once again highlights his talent for human choreography, choosing actors so perfectly adapted that a little complaint is that I wanted to see more. As the mother of Tish, Regina King is wonderfully measured, with a natural maternalism that goes from a need to fuel to a desperate need for protection in an unusual confrontational scene in the last act. Teyonah Parris, still underused, so good in the criminal sitcom, Survivor's Remorse, is actually spirited at unfortunately too short doses and Colman Domingo, Tish's father and Brian Tyree Henry, is engaging in a speech – effects of the prison in another standout stage.
As home lovers, these are star-making towers of Layne and James, the latter in particular having a striking impact. He is without a doubt charismatic, but he is extremely vulnerable and his tortured face will spread in your memory. Given the film's flawless belief in love, feel so much while watching it. Captively and emotionally, it's an almost overwhelming experience.
• If Beale Street Could Talk Participates in the Toronto Film Festival and Releases in the United States on November 30 and the United Kingdom on January 18
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