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 "If Beale Street Could Talk," opening in U.S. theaters in major
cities on Friday is marked by a quiet beauty and dignity,
despite the despair that runs through it.
Based on the 1974 novel with the same title by the late James
Baldwin, the film is director Barry Jenkins' follow-up to his
2016 Oscar-winner "Moonlight."
It is the latest in a slew of movies by or about
African-Americans that were nominated last week for Golden Globe
Awards, including Spike Lee's Ku Klux Klan thriller "BlacKkKlansman,"
superhero movie "Black Panther," and 1960s road trip "Green
Book."
"If Beale Street Could Talk" is the story of two hopeful young
lovers in Harlem whose future is ruined when the man is
imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. Baldwin said Beale
Street could stand for any black community in the United States.
Jenkins said he was drawn to make the film because of its blend
of "sensuality and love - both physical and emotional love - but
also this other voice that was very, very clear about social
critique and taking America to task for the role it has played
in the lives and the degradation of black folks."
Yet Jenkins, who also adapted the screenplay, says rage is not
in his wheelhouse as a filmmaker.
"I feel like anger has never been the best place for me to work
from," he said.
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In contrast to the more strident tone of the novel, the film is made
from the perspective of young and pregnant Tish, played by newcomer
KiKi Layne, and her loving family.
"Tish is so young and pure and wide eyed and so innocent, that to
work from any other place than that would have felt like a false
move," Jenkins said.
Jenkins sees "Beale Street" and "Moonlight" as companion pieces,
partly because he wrote both films during the summer of 2013. They
are also about black families, albeit very different.
"Moonlight" depicted a young black gay man growing up in a
hard-scrabble neighborhood of contemporary Miami.
"I still get notes and letters from total strangers who feel their
lives have been impacted or in some ways improved because of the
visibility that 'Moonlight' brought to their personal lives," he
said.
Jenkins hopes "Beale Street" leaves audiences with "a sense of
optimism that the lives and souls of black folks in America have
often been rooted in despair and degradation, and yet there has
always been love, joy, family and community."
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Richard Chang)
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