Barry Jenkins has already established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the directing world after Moonlight’s Oscar win. This time adapting a novel instead of a play, Jenkins takes on James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk.

The film follows Tish and Alonzo, a young couple from Harlem who are inexplicably in love. The story interjects flashbacks between the couple meeting, to present day where Tish is pregnant and Alonso is being held for a crime he didn’t commit.

What struck me most about this film is how Jenkins seemed to take a Spike-Lee approach to film making and used stock photographs to set the scene of 70s Harlem, without highlighting the poverty and hardship of the area. Instead, melts that all away and focuses on the warm, happening undertones of Harlem and Manhattan with interlaced un-comfortableness. I particularly liked the overuse of the word ‘baby’ in the dialogue, very hip.

My only issue with this film is that I felt the characters peaked too early. The family scenes at the beginning of this film were so well directed and acted that I felt a bit lost when there wasn’t a repetition of this somewhere in the film.

The film is true to Baldwin’s original work and Jenkins encapsulates the world of the film perfectly.

Regina King’s supporting actress Oscar is rightly deserved for this film – what a performance!

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