2018 ( USA ) ( Drama, Romance )
Starring: KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King
Director: Barry Jenkins
A Member’s Choice Film. Director Barry Jenkins has taken James Baldwin’s classic 70s novel and turned it into the closest visual representation of young love you’re likely to see. Tish (Kiki Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James) have known each other all their life. She is 19, he isn’t much older. It’s 1970’s Harlem and life is pretty tough for a young, black couple saving for their life together. Fonny is falsely accused of rape by a police officer with a grudge and despite having two alibis, is sent down anyway. Not long after, Tish discovers she is pregnant with their child and, with the support of her family, decides to have the baby whilst attempting to persuade the courts to see reason.
The movie alternates between flashbacks to heavenly times and the family’s increasingly desperate attempts to prevail against a justice system that runs like a relentless factory of untruths and despair.
Beale Street is magical film-making which looks for, and finds, beauty in the most unlikely of places.
(1hr 59min)