If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

[Jake Lipson]

Title: If Beale Street Could Talk

Tagline: Trust Love All The Way

Genre: Drama, Romance

Director: Barry Jenkins

Cast: KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Colman Domingo, Teyonah Parris, Michael Beach, Dave Franco, Diego Luna, Pedro Pascal, Emily Rios, Ed Skrein, Finn Wittrock, Brian Tyree Henry, Regina King, Milanni Mines, Ethan Barrett, Aunjanue Ellis, Ebony Obsidian, Dominique Thorne, Bobby Conte Thornton, Marcia Jean Kurtz

Release: 2018-11-30

Runtime: 119

Plot: After her fiance is falsely imprisoned, a pregnant African-American woman sets out to clear his name and prove his innocence.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I'm really surprised there isn't already a thread for this movie, but I couldn't find one, so now there is.

This is the new film by Barry Jenkins, who made his name with Moonlight a couple years ago. It's currently in limited release and expanding over the next couple weeks -- it's expected to be wide on January 18 -- but is already wide enough to have landed at my arthouse this past weekend, so I've already seen it. Has anyone else yet?

I think it's absolutely fantastic. Regina King is getting the most awards attention for her supporting role, and she absolutely deserves to be in that conversation. But really it's a very strong ensemble. The whole cast is fantastic and it's a great story well-told by Jenkins and everybody involved. I don't really want to say too much before other people have seen it, but it's really great. I look forward to discussing it as its release becomes more widespread and it reaches more of our membership. If it's playing near you, I strongly urge you to seek it out. If not, definitely do so when it expands again.

Facebook's algorithm has been weird lately, and Barry Jenkins (yes, the director) showed up in the list of People You May Know for me recently, with a link to his personal page and the opportunity for me to send him a friend request. I didn't, because I don't know him and it would be improper for me to bother him on his personal page, but I saw it and laughed and thought, "I wish." He certainly has made a great film here which deserves all the accolades and attention coming its way.

 

[bujaki]

A worthy follow up to the great Moonlight. Lyrical, brutal. loving, life affirming in the face of insurmountable odds.It touched a raw nerve in my wife who knew a student involved in a similar case when we were living in New York around the same time. Such situations were not far fetched.

 

[Jake Lipson]

@bujaki, do you remember what the text quote from the beginning of the movie said? I was in the process of reading it when it disappeared from the screen and didn't have enough time to get all of it.

Since the movie is set in New York and not New Orleans, I suspect it might be something about why the title references Beale Street when the movie isn't set there.

 

[bujaki]

Baldwin's father and Louis Armstrong were born in Beale Street. There's a Beale Street in every city where black people live. Beale Street is the Black experience everywhere.
I think that was the gist of it.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Great film with great performances by the entire cast.

I think it's the best original score of 2018. The music is fantastic.

 

[benbess]

Looking forward to seeing this one soon. Thanks for the reviews here so far....

 

[benbess]

Good movie. Beautifully made. Excellent performances.

 

[mattCR]

Really impressed. This will be near the top of my best films from 2018. Regina King is just incredible, as always.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Really impressed. This will be near the top of my best films from 2018. Regina King is just incredible, as always.

I'm going to see this film next week before my Sinemia movie quantity turns over to February.

 

[BobO'Link]

Since the movie is set in New York and not New Orleans, I suspect it might be something about why the title references Beale Street when the movie isn't set there.

[QUOTE="bujaki, post: 4690258, member: 381860"]There's a Beale Street in every city where black people live. Beale Street is the Black experience everywhere.
I think that was the gist of it.[/QUOTE]
And I was going to say Memphis, TN. and thought it was set in that city. I had no idea...

 

[Jake Lipson]

Memphis, TN

Yes, I meant to write Memphis in the post you quoted. I don't know why New Orleans popped into my head at that specific time. But no, the movie is definitely set in New York.

 

[mattCR]

Yeah, I instantly thought of Memphis when I was seeing it and it took me a while to re-adjust to New York. A truly sad film with a heart. It sticks with you.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I haven't seen an announcement yet, but Amazon just emailed me today to indicate that my pre-order will arrive on Tuesday, March 26, so that must be the street date and they're getting ready to announce it. That seems like a relatively quick trip to Blu-ra considering that the movie didn't go wide until January, but since it was in limited release on Christmas, it is a standard window. Also, I think the movie just hasn't done as well or gotten as much attention as it deserves to, unfortunately. Perhaps it could have lasted longer in theaters if it had had more major awards attention (like Best Picture.)

However, in other good news, the Oscar-nominated score will finally get a release on physical CD on March 8, which is also up for pre-order now. Up until this point, it's been digital only, so I'm glad they're finally putting out a disc.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

However, in other good news, the Oscar-nominated score will finally get a release on physical CD on March 8, which is also up for pre-order now. Up until this point, it's been digital only, so I'm glad they're finally putting out a disc.

That's great news! It's probably my favorite score of last year.