If Beale Street Could Talk
Set in 1970s Harlem, “If Beale Street Could Talk” tells the heart breaking love story of Tish Rivers (KiKi Layne) and Alonzo ‘Fonny’ Hunt (Stephan James). At a time they should be celebrating their love and the beginning of a new life, they are instead forced to focus on proving Fonny’s innocence in order to get him out of jail for a crime he did not commit.
Even though it is set in the 70s, the racism, injustice and anguish experienced by Tish and Fonny, sadly, still rings true today.
Writer/Director Barry Jenkins delivers a painfully beautiful film which not only explores the abhorrent racism the protagonists face, but he also chooses to focus on how their love gets them through and is the most important thing in life.
He allows the film to take it’s time, without being self indulgent and allows beauty to reign supreme in amongst all of the ugliness.
The performances in this film are so real they hurt – from Layne to James, and Regina King’s, Oscar nominated, and gut wrenching performance as Layne’s mum, who is so desperate to prove her future grandchild’s dad’s innocence that she won’t let anything get in her way. The strength, poise, dignity and beauty in all their performances are inspiring.
How can a film be both beautiful and yet so devastating? How can it be so powerful, yet so upsetting? How can it leave you feeling a sense of hopelessness yet be so full of hope? Well Barry Jenkins’ follow up to the Oscar winning, “Moonlight” is is all of that and so much more. I will never understand how it was not nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, but that doesn’t mean that it is not one of the stand out films of 2019!
Boy Erased
Based on Garrard Conley’s memoir of the same name, “Boy Erased” tells the story of how Jared Eamon’s (Lucas Hedges) life is thrown into turmoil when, at 19, he is outed by a college classmate.
When Jared’s parents find out he is gay, his Baptist Preacher father (Russell Crowe) and religious mother (Nicole Kidman), as advised by their religious community, decide the best thing for their son is to put him in, a church supported, conversion therapy course. Jared attends out of fear of, not only be shunned by his community, but by those he loves the most too – his parents.
This film is a very difficult watch, however it is a very important story to be told as in today’s world there are still 36 US states, and numerous countries around the world where conversion therapy is legal.
Instead of contributing to the hate, this film comes from a place of love. It doesn’t set out to vilify the parents, instead, it asks the question, how can a family who love each other so much cause their son so much pain?
Jared’s parents truly believed that they weren’t doing bad things to him, they were actually doing this for him. That is one of the most heart breaking parts of the whole film. Dictated to by religion, they (initially) failed to see that what they were doing for their son was causing him so much pain and suffering.
There are outstanding performances from all of the cast. However, Kidman’s portrayal of Jared’s mother who is torn by the love for her child, the right thing for him, and what her religion tells her is the right thing to do for him, is gut wrenching.
Writer/Director, Joel Edgerton, lets the story unfold and doesn’t opt for sensationalism or over dramatics to evoke emotion from the audience. Sometimes this makes for very slow film making but in this case it works as you really take in what is happening.
I left the cinema feeling anger (that in today’s society this can still be happening), sadness (how can love be something that is not celebrated?), and hope. “Boy Erased” is not an easy watch but it is a must see.
