IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK – Review by MaryAnn Johanson

In a better world, If Beale Street Could Talk would be nothing more — and nothing less — than a beautiful love story, merely the sweetly sexy blossoming of passion between 19-year-old Tish (glorious newcomer KiKi Layne) and family friend Fonny (Stephan James), whom she grew up with. Fonny describes his regard for her like this: “Just remember that I belong to you.” Which is simply one of the most romantic things I’ve ever heard, and not only because it’s the utter opposite of the possessiveness with which men onscreen typically express desire and connection with a woman. In a better world, Beale Street would let us and The Movies have Fonny — a handsome, sensitive artist — as the straight-up, uncomplicated catch that he is.

We don’t live in that better world. Tish and Fonny are black, and they live in 1970s New York City. (Not that anything here would be much different if the film were set today. But the film is based on James Baldwin’s 1974 novel.) They face dehumanizing racism at every turn. The unreconstructed misogyny Tish faces from other women — Fonny’s religious mother (Aunjanue Ellis) and sisters — when she announces that she is pregnant with Fonny’s child is another smack in her face, another reminder than she is seen as Less Than by too many people. If Fonny’s swoon-worthy declaration is the fantasy side of Beale Street, then the directive of Tish’s sibling (Teyonah Parris) to “unbow your head, sister” to look hostility in the face, unashamed and with pride, is the fist of this film. Continue reading…