
If Beale Street Could Talk. 2018. USA. Directed by Barry Jenkins. 117 min.
Fresh off the unbounded success of Moonlight, Barry Jenkins’s latest film brings one of James Baldwin’s most iconic novels to the screen. Fonny (Stephan James) and Tish (Kiki Layne) grew up across the street from each other, and have been inseparable since. As the two near adulthood, their admiration and friendship blossoms into romance. This budding relationship is upended when Fonny is falsely accused of a violent crime and imprisoned soon after Tish discovers she is pregnant. A timeless portrait of the strength of love, the weight of injustice, and the power of circumstance that could only be penned by Baldwin is translated to screen effortlessly by Jenkins, in a rare combination of stylistic adventurousness and precise restraint. Courtesy of Annapurna Pictures