If Beale Street Could Talk ★★☆☆☆ | Movie Review

Synopsis


A young woman desperately tries to get her boyfriend, and father of her unborn child, out of jail after he's arrested for a crime he didn't commit.


Review


Oh man, here's another one where I wonder what I missed. I just don't see what a lot of other people see in this one.

Fairly early on I thought to myself that there seems to be a lot going on but nothing happening. My opinion didn't waver much from there.

The music was wonderful but even so it felt like it was oddly misplaced in here. I found myself actively nothing it because it didn't feel right for the setting.

When we come to the acting I found it a bit hit and miss. The only performance that really blew me away was Regina King, she's a consistently good actress and this role has already won her a lot of supporting actress critics awards. I honestly think she's very deserving of the Oscar too. I haven't seen Roma yet (it's on the list, I'm getting to it!) to compare, but Vice and The Favourite don't hold up to the standard of King's acting in this.

A lot of If Beale Street Could Talk felt like it was being artsy for the sake of it. There was a fairly long scene where we see Fonny working a bit of wood. I really couldn't see any need for it to be there, certainly not in that form. It was one of many bits that didn't seem to have much relevance. I'm a little undecided on... well... a lot of things. The voiceovers, the characters that pop up outside the main cast...

All in all it felt like there were too many things it was trying to be. A romance, a crime drama, a discourse on racial inequality? It left me with more questions than answers.

What you should do


Here we are again. I probably wouldn't recommend this to anyone, but yet again I'm in the minority.

Movie thing you wish you could take home


I'm afraid that I was too bewildered by what was going on to pay attention to any of the things I might want... if invisible fridges really are functional though I'd be interested in one.

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