Following the success of Jenkins's Moonlight (2016), it was announced in July 2017 that he would direct an adaptation of Baldwin's novel, from a screenplay that he wrote in 2013. Principal photography began in October 2017 in New York City and the cast was announced that month.
Note: The film's structure is non-linear, but this plot summary is written in a linear fashion.
Clementine "Tish" Rivers and Alonzo "Fonny" Hunt have been friends their whole lives. They become romantically involved when they get older. In the 1970s, they struggle to find an apartment, as most New York landlords would not rent to black people. Eventually, they find a place in a warehouse being converted to loft apartments; Levy, the Jewish landlord, rents it to them because he enjoys seeing couples who are in love, regardless of race.
That night, Tish is harassed by a man while in a mostly white grocery store. He begins to assault her, so Fonny physically throws him out of the store. A white policeman nearby, Officer Bell, attempts to arrest Fonny for it, but reluctantly lets him go when the Jewish woman who runs the grocery store vouches for them and chastises Bell for his racism.
Fonny is later arrested and accused of raping a woman named Victoria Rogers. Although nearly impossible for him to have gone from the scene of the crime to the apartment where he was arrested in the time between the rape and the arrest, the case against Fonny is considered strong due to Officer Bell's testimony. The claim is he saw Fonny fleeing the scene, and Victoria identified Fonny in a lineup as her rapist. Tish, as well as Fonny's friend Daniel Carty, were with him at the time of the rape, but it is considered an unreliable alibi due to Tish's romantic relationship with Fonny and Daniel's previous conviction for grand theft auto.
Tish visits Fonny in jail as he awaits trial and reveals to him that she is pregnant with their baby. Fonny is excited to be a father, but saddened that the birth might be while he is still behind bars. Later, Tish tells her parents, Sharon and Joseph, and sister, Ernestine, about her pregnancy. Though worried for her, Tish's family is supportive and decide to invite Fonny's family over to share the news.
Frank, Fonny's father, is excited, however, Fonny's highly religious mother declares that as the child was conceived out of wedlock, Tish and her child are damned. As Mrs. Hunt begins to leave with her daughters in disgust after Frank hits her, Sharon reminds her that she has just condemned her own grandchild, leaving her emotionally distraught as she is escorted away.
In a bar, Frank and Joseph discuss how the former is worried about paying for a child and Fonny's legal expenses, but Joseph convinces him that they will be able to provide for their grandchild the same way they provided for their own children.
Sharon travels to Victoria's native Puerto Rico to plead with her to change her testimony. She tries to convince her she mistakenly identified Fonny as her rapist, but Victoria refuses. Questioning whether Victoria could have seen her rapist's face in the dark, Victoria says the police told her to identify Fonny in a line-up, and she did so. When Sharon gently touches her, Victoria begins to scream. An elderly woman overhears the commotion and comes to take Victoria away. Discouraged by the seeming hopelessness of his case and the constant trial delays, Tish gives birth to her son without Fonny, who eventually accepts a plea deal.
Tish and their child, Alonzo Jr., visit Fonny in prison. They share snacks together while looking forward to Fonny's eventual release.
On August 29, 2017, Stephan James was set to star.[5] In September 2017, KiKi Layne and Teyonah Parris were also added, with Layne in the female lead.[6][7]Lin-Manuel Miranda was almost cast in the film, but he was ultimately not, though he and Jenkins got acquainted and kept in touch since.[8]
If Beale Street Could Talk began a limited release in the United States on December 14, 2018, with an expanded release on December 25. It had previously been scheduled for November 30, 2018.[20] The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2018.[21] It also screened at the New York Film Festival on October 11, 2018, the New Orleans Film Festival on October 21, 2018,[22][23] and the St. Louis International Film Festival on November 10, 2018.
Reception
Box office
If Beale Street Could Talk grossed $14.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $5.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $20.6 million.[3]
During its opening weekend, December 14, the film made $219,174 from four theaters, for a per-venue average of $54,794, one of the best of 2018.[24] In its second weekend, the film earned $114,902,[25] and in its third made $759,578 from 65 theaters.[26] In its fourth weekend, the film expanded to 335 theaters, earning $1.9 million.[27] The next weekend, January 11, following its Golden Globe win the film expanded to 1,018 theaters and grossed $2.3 million.[28]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 95%, based on 363 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "If Beale Street Could Talk honors its source material with a beautifully filmed adaptation that finds director Barry Jenkins further strengthening his visual and narrative craft."[29] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100, based on 53 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[30] Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film an 82% overall positive score and a 65% "definite recommend".[28]
Eric Kohn of IndieWire gave the film an "A−", stating: "Jenkins' follow-up to Moonlight also maintains his own expressionistic aesthetic, with its lush colors and entrancing faces that speak volumes in few words, resulting in a fascinating hybrid experience — a seminal voice of the past merging with one of the present in a mesmerizing burst of creative passion."[31] Siddhant Adlakha of /Film said the film felt "electric and alive" and specified, "The worlds these characters create — whether in the form of individual, soul-piercing stares, or moments of burning passion filmed in profile — carry with them the weight of the very history of which Tish constantly speaks."[32]
Regina Rene King is an American actress, director and producer. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and four Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2019, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
The New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO) is an organization co-founded by Harvey S. Karten and Prairie Miller in 2000, composed of Internet film critics based in New York City. The group meets once a year, in December, for voting on its annual NYFCO Awards. Prairie Miller, Avi Offer and Karen Benardello form the NYFCO's Governing Committee, and members include such vet and influential critics as Rex Reed, Armond White, Stephanie Zacharek, and Emanuel Levy.
If Beale Street Could Talk is a 1974 novel by American writer James Baldwin. His fifth novel, it is a love story set in Harlem in the early 1970s. The title is a reference to the 1916 W.C. Handy blues song "Beale Street Blues", named after Beale Street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee.
The Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts is the film school of the Florida State University. About 215 students are enrolled in classes, including undergraduates and graduate students, including Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts students.
The Austin Film Critics Association (AFCA) is an organization of professional film critics from Austin, Texas.
David John Franco is an American actor and filmmaker. He began his career with small roles in films such as Superbad (2007) and Charlie St. Cloud (2010). Following a starring role in the ninth and final season of the comedy series Scrubs, Franco had his film breakthrough as a supporting role in the buddy comedy film 21 Jump Street (2012).
The USC Scripter Award (Scripter) is the name given to an award presented annually by the University of Southern California (USC) to honor both authors and screenwriters. Starting in 1988, the USC Libraries Board of Councilors award the year's best film adaptation of a printed work, recognizing the original author and the screenwriter.
Nicholas Britell is an American film and television composer. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and a Grammy Award. He has received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score for Barry Jenkins' Moonlight (2016) and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), and Adam McKay's Don't Look Up (2021). He also scored McKay's The Big Short (2015) and Vice (2018). He is also known for scoring Battle of the Sexes (2017), Cruella (2021), and She Said (2022).
Teyonah Parris is an American actress. A graduate of Juilliard School, she began acting in 2010. Her first prominent roles were those of secretary Dawn Chambers in the AMC drama series Mad Men (2012–2015), and a starring role in the 2014 independent film Dear White People. Since then, she has appeared in the drama series Empire (2014), Spike Lee's crime comedy Chi-Raq (2015), and the drama film If Beale Street Could Talk (2018).
Moonlight is a 2016 American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins, based on Tarell Alvin McCraney's unpublished semi-autobiographical play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. It stars Trevante Rhodes, André Holland, Janelle Monáe, Ashton Sanders, Jharrel Jerome, Naomie Harris, and Mahershala Ali.
Barry Jenkins is an American filmmaker. After making his filmmaking debut with the short film My Josephine (2003), he directed his first feature film Medicine for Melancholy (2008) for which he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Feature. He is also a member of The Chopstars collective as a creative collaborator.
James Laxton is an American cinematographer who is best known for his collaborations with filmmaker Barry Jenkins, specifically his work on Jenkins' 2016 film Moonlight, for which he won an Independent Spirit Award and received an Academy Award nomination.
Joi McMillon is an American film editor. In 2003, she graduated from Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts. McMillon is known for her work on the Academy Award-winning film Moonlight (2016), and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), both winning several respective accolades.
Kiandra "KiKi" Layne is an American actress. She is best known for her starring roles in such films as the romantic drama If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), the drama Native Son (2019), the action superhero film The Old Guard (2020), and the romantic comedy Coming 2 America (2021).
The 90th National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in film for 2018, were announced on November 27, 2018.
Charm City Kings is a 2020 American drama film directed by Ángel Manuel Soto from a screenplay by Sherman Payne and a story by Chris Boyd, Kirk Sullivan, and Barry Jenkins. It is based on the 2013 documentary 12 O'Clock Boys by Lotfy Nathan. It stars Jahi Di'Allo Winston, Meek Mill, Will Catlett, and Teyonah Parris.
If Beale Street Could Talk (Original Motion Picture Score) is the score album to the 2018 film of the same name directed by Barry Jenkins based on James Baldwin's 1974 novel of the same name. Featuring original music written and composed by Nicholas Britell, the film marked his second collaboration with Jenkins after the Academy Award-winning Moonlight (2016). According to Britell, he used two different soundscapes to depict the relationship between Clementine "Tish" Rivers (KiKi Layne) and Alonzo "Fonny" Hunt (Stephan James) as well as the horrors of alleged accusation over Fonny, and the aftermath surrounds. The primary instruments used in most of the scores, were strings and brass to depict the relationship, while orchestra and jazz also accompany the score.
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