This film is currently unavailable
If Beale Street Could Talk
Barry Jenkins follows his Oscar®-winning Moonlight with an audacious, distinctive and assured adaptation of James Baldwin’s account of love, injustice and racism in America.
Drama 2018 119 mins
Director: Barry Jenkins
Overview
‘Love is what brought you here and if you trusted it this far, trust it all the way.’ Tish (KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James) have known each other since childhood, but only latterly discovered that the safe, easy familiarity between them has bloomed into a love so intoxicating it promises everlasting joy and happiness. But life is not destined to be so easy for a young black couple living in 1970s Harlem. Fonny is falsely accused of a rape and an unjust judicial system refuses to acknowledge the impossibility of his having committed the crime. Tish and her family struggle to exonerate him.
This is only the second time a book by Baldwin has been adapted for the screen (Robert Guédiguian directed a Marseille-set version of this story in 1998). In adapting Beale Street, Jenkins creates an authentic and graceful film about black lives in America – like a missing piece of cinema history for people long denied representation on screen. And with cinematographer James Laxton (Moonlight) and designer Mark Friedberg (Wonderstruck, Selma), he has crafted a ravishing world. The lushness of the film’s images interacts beautifully with its spoken text, capturing the poetry of Baldwin’s language. Fonny and Tish’s story asserts that, even in a world of corruption and prejudice, love and dignity can prevail.
infrequent very strong language, strong sexAccessibility
Related
Drama
The Way He Looks The Way He Looks
Drama 2014 92 mins Director: Daniel Ribeiro
A blind student’s relationship with his best friend is tested when he falls for the new boy in school, in Daniel Ribeiro’s beautifully realised romance.
The Golden Dream The Golden Dream
Drama 2013 108 mins Director: Diego Quemada
Diego Quemada-Diez’s astounding debut feature follows four Guatemalan teenagers as they attempt to escape from the slums of Guatemala City to the bright lights of Los Angeles.
Bait Bait
Drama 2018 89 mins Director: Mark Jenkin
Simmering tensions between locals and newcomers in a modern-day Cornish fishing village reach boiling point in this hugely acclaimed British independent film.
Beautiful Something Beautiful Something
Drama 2015 93 mins Director: Joseph Graham
In one desperate night, four disparate gay men cruise Philadelphia in pursuit of ever-elusive human connection.
Closet Monster Closet Monster
Drama 2015 90 mins Director: Stephen Dunn
An offbeat Canadian coming-of-age drama with surrealist tendencies, featuring the voice of Isabella Rossellini as a talking hamster.
Monsoon Monsoon
Drama 2018 85 mins Director: Hong Khaou
Hong Khaou follows Lilting with this gorgeous drama that evokes the disorientation of returning to an unrecognisable homeland.
Oscars - Best Supporting Role
Moonlight Moonlight
Drama 2016 111 mins Director: Barry Jenkins
Winner of the 2017 Oscar for Best Picture (eventually!), Barry Jenkins’ intoxicating drama follows the furtive life of a gay black boy through 80s Miami.
12 Years a Slave 12 Years a Slave
Biopic 2013 134 mins Director: Steve McQueen
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender star in Steve McQueen’s fearless, Oscar-winning story of a free man who’s sold into slavery.
Written on the Wind Written on the Wind
Melodrama 1956 100 mins Director: Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk’s broiling melodrama classic; a love quadrangle involving the two brattish heirs of a Texan oil fortune.
I, Tonya I, Tonya
Biopic 2017 120 mins Director: Craig Gillespie
Athlete. Champion. Villain. Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) played them all…
BlacKkKlansman BlacKkKlansman
Drama 2018 135 mins Director: Spike Lee
Spike Lee's stunning crime drama tells the stranger-than-fiction true story of an African-American police officer who infiltrated the KKK in the 1970s.
Green Book Green Book
Drama 2018 130 mins Director: Peter Farrelly
Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen star in the triple Oscar®-winning comic roadmovie, about the unlikely friendship between an acclaimed pianist and his bouncer.
Featuring Stephan James
Race Race
Biopic 2016 135 mins Director: Stephen Hopkins
The remarkable story of Jesse Owens, the grandson of a slave whose athletic feats defied Nazi ideology at the 1936 Olympics.
Directed by Barry Jenkins
Moonlight Moonlight
Drama 2016 111 mins Director: Barry Jenkins
Winner of the 2017 Oscar for Best Picture (eventually!), Barry Jenkins’ intoxicating drama follows the furtive life of a gay black boy through 80s Miami.
New
The Way He Looks The Way He Looks
Drama 2014 92 mins Director: Daniel Ribeiro
A blind student’s relationship with his best friend is tested when he falls for the new boy in school, in Daniel Ribeiro’s beautifully realised romance.
Who's Gonna Love Me Now? Who's Gonna Love Me Now?
Documentary 2016 86 mins Director: Tomer Heymann
A heartfelt exploration of one man’s struggle to reconcile with his Israeli family, while finding a new ‘family’ in London Gay Men’s Chorus.
The Golden Dream The Golden Dream
Drama 2013 108 mins Director: Diego Quemada
Diego Quemada-Diez’s astounding debut feature follows four Guatemalan teenagers as they attempt to escape from the slums of Guatemala City to the bright lights of Los Angeles.
Bait Bait
Drama 2018 89 mins Director: Mark Jenkin
Simmering tensions between locals and newcomers in a modern-day Cornish fishing village reach boiling point in this hugely acclaimed British independent film.
Before Stonewall Before Stonewall
Documentary 1984 84 mins Director: Greta Schiller
Documenting the testimonies from those who dared to challenge the world and helped create the modern gay community.
Beautiful Something Beautiful Something
Drama 2015 93 mins Director: Joseph Graham
In one desperate night, four disparate gay men cruise Philadelphia in pursuit of ever-elusive human connection.