If Beale Street Could Talk

Following his Oscar-winning Moonlight, director Barry Jenkins continues his cinematic exploration of the 20th-century African American experience with this anguished adaptation of James Baldwin’s critically acclaimed 1974 titular novel (the title references the 1916 W.C. Handy song “Beale Street Blues”). In 1970s Harlem, a naïve 19-year-old woman discovers that she’s pregnant with her 22 year-old boyfriend’s baby after he’s been arrested for a rape he did not commit--framed by a racist cop with a grudge. Tish (KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James), are tender soul-mates, totally committed to one another, but the rest of the world seems stacked against them. Tish’s hardworking parents (Colman Domingo, Regina King) are supportive, but Fonny’s father (Michael Beach) is hot-tempered and his sassy mother (Aunjanue Ellis) is judgmental. Later, Tish’s bitterly determined mother travels to Puerto Rico to confront the woman (Emily Rios) who mistakenly identified Fonny in a police lineup. Although Jenkins’s choice of episodic, nonlinear flashbacks is occasionally confusing, overall this is a solid drama, scoring Oscar nominations for Jenkins’s adapted screenplay, Nicholas Britell’s synergetic score, and a win for King’s supporting turn. Recommended. (S. Granger)