Review: Barry Jenkins weaves love, injustice into lyrical ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’

Life often gets in the way of love for characters in filmmaker Barry Jenkins’ works, and in his new period drama “If Beale Street Could Talk,” the core romance of two soulmates feels more earned because of those obstacles. 

Jenkins adapted the 1974 James Baldwin novel as a followup to his 2016 masterpiece “Moonlight.” While not as innovative or captivating, “Beale Street” (★★★ out of four; rated R; opens in New York and L.A. Friday, expands nationwide Dec. 25), a 1970s-set Harlem love story fraught with injustice, is nevertheless affecting and filled with hope.

Close friends since childhood, 19-year-old Tish (newcomer KiKi Layne) and her artist fiancé Fonny (Stephan James) have taken their formerly platonic love to a new level, but Tish learns she’s pregnant as Fonny sits in prison, wrongfully accused of raping a Puerto Rican woman (Emily Rios) after being framed by an unscrupulous cop (Ed Skrein).

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Tish consoles him at visits as the film bounces between flashbacks of their burgeoning love and the present, when Tish and her loving parents, Sharon (Regina King) and Joseph (Colman Domingo), are committed to freeing Fonny. Tish’s family, which welcomes the prospect of a new life, is seen in stark contrast to Fonny’s, especially his mother (Aunjanue Ellis). The devoutly religious woman recoils at the baby news, yet doesn’t seem that interested in helping her son.

Jenkins uses those contrasts effectively in his work, which again is marked by a strong expressionistic style: Fonny is seen in jail scenes, his talents seemingly wasting away, but also in earlier times working on a sculpture in his basement apartment, with the camera orbiting the artist as smoke gives him an ethereal aura. The scenes come alive even more thanks to Nicholas Britell’s gorgeous score, laden with sweeping strings and brass melodies.

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