If Beale Street Could Talk Review (2018, director: Barry Jenkins)

If Beale Street Could Talk is the newest film from acclaimed director Barry Jenkins, whose previous film Moonlight won Best Picture at last year’s Oscars. It’s based on the novel of the same name by author James Baldwin and is about a man falsely accused of rape and his pregnant wife in the early 1970s and set in New York.

The highly emotional and powerful Beale Street is easily one of the best films of 2018 I’ve seen so far, and is up there competing with First Reformed for my favorite of the year. This is about as good as Moonlight and it’s hard for me to pick one over the other at this point.

The highlight of this film for me was probably the evocative, string-heavy score from Nicholas Britell. The music is a huge part of Beale Street and there are several scenes where the plot slows down and we mainly just hear music as opposed to dialogue for a bit. This just might be the best score of 2018 from the films I’ve seen.

The cinematographer from Moonlight, James Laxton, returns and this film is shot just as beautifully. The fluid camerawork always serves the emotion of the scene and there are never cool shots just for the sake of cool shots. The straight-on close-ups from Moonlight return and are used to a very powerful effect.

Beale Street’s story is small but with the way it’s presented, it never feels that way. The story is quite heavy, but yet there are still moments of genuine humor. It uses a nonlinear chronology and the shifts between time periods are always smooth. The film is paced well and while it slows down a bit at times, this definitely feels necessary.

The production and set design are excellent as it lets the audience know when it takes place without hitting you over the head with it. The film, in general, makes some mentions of the era, but isn’t overly referential and tells a somewhat timeless story that could take place today. There’s some social and political commentary, but again this is subtle and not heavy-handed.

Jenkins’ screenplay contains some very well-written dialogue, especially in a family argument towards the beginning with some great back and forth exchanges.

The acting is solid all-around and the leads have great chemistry together. Most of the main characters aren’t big names, but a few more famous people fill smaller roles.

I really don’t have any complaints about Beale Street. Make sure to go out and see this as soon as possible, especially if you like Moonlight, as this solidifies Jenkins as one of the best filmmakers today.

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The critics have been loving this movie and it has a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Beale Street is absolutely going to get multiple Oscar nominations as it’s basically a lock for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Regina King will surely get a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress nomination and I can easily see it getting in for cinematography as well. I don’t think it will win Best Picture, as at the moment it seems like that’s between A Star is Born and Roma. Obviously, we can’t count out Barry Jenkins after last year’s dramatics, but Moonlight seemed to be getting more buzz going into awards season.