In the bonus track of the DVD of "If Beale Street Could Talk," the writer-director Barry Jenkins described the "sanctity and purity" of the love of two young people that he wanted to bring to the screen from James Baldwin's 1974 novel. He also identified his cinematic image for the structure of the film as "the nine trimesters of pregnancy." In that concept, we can see all that was good and all that went wrong in this film.
Unfortunately, Jenkins adapted the novel far too literally in the fragmented, non-linear style. There were too many moments of reverie that didn't work in the film's chiaroscuro style.
Another disappointing technical feature of the film was the music. The film opened with a James Baldwin quote connecting Beale Street with Louis Armstrong and New Orleans jazz. But the director seemed more interested in broad themes than practical film matters like the actual score. In the DVD bonus track, Jenkins described the film's music as "lush" when it should have been vibrant in the jazz style.
The strength of the film was in the incandescent relationship of the two young people Tish and Fonny. Their story was a modern Romeo and Juliet as they were caught up in a world of hatred and prejudice.
While the film is worth seeing, it should be considered best as a work-in-progress that never made the full transition of a poetic novel to the screen.
Unfortunately, Jenkins adapted the novel far too literally in the fragmented, non-linear style. There were too many moments of reverie that didn't work in the film's chiaroscuro style.
Another disappointing technical feature of the film was the music. The film opened with a James Baldwin quote connecting Beale Street with Louis Armstrong and New Orleans jazz. But the director seemed more interested in broad themes than practical film matters like the actual score. In the DVD bonus track, Jenkins described the film's music as "lush" when it should have been vibrant in the jazz style.
The strength of the film was in the incandescent relationship of the two young people Tish and Fonny. Their story was a modern Romeo and Juliet as they were caught up in a world of hatred and prejudice.
While the film is worth seeing, it should be considered best as a work-in-progress that never made the full transition of a poetic novel to the screen.