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| Scene from If Beale Street Could Talk |
The world can be an awful place and it is only nature to retaliate with animosity in your heart. However, there's something even more compelling about the films of director Barry Jenkins. As a man of compassion, he has taken to exploring a more tender side of African American culture. It's something that seems revolutionary by virtue of simply depicting a group whose cultural relevance has only been to radical protesters or submissive in a way that is, for a lack of a better word, human. With If Beale Street Could Talk, he adapts James Baldwin's novel into a tale of love that doesn't ignore the violence but instead finds optimism around it. There's no rioting in the streets. It's a tale of being grateful for the love in your life even as the world knocks you down. It may not be the most inventive story, but what Jenkins has done is provide a warm optimism to guide audiences in a time where cynicism runs rampant, and that's all that's really necessary.
