Last fall I decided that I wanted to watch every movie nominated for the 2019 Academy Awards’ Best Picture category. I made a list based on critics’ predictions. Most of the movies on my list were, indeed, nominated, with two exceptions: Can You Ever Forgive Me? (which is well worth seeing) and If Beale Street Could Talk. (Once the nominations came out, I also had to add two films to my list: Vice and Bohemian Rhapsody.)
Despite critical acclaim and the fact that it was directed by Barry Jenkins, whose movie Moonlight won Best Picture a couple of years ago, If Beale Street Could Talk bombed at the box office. And that’s a shame, because the critics were right: Beale Street is a gorgeous movie.
The movie is based on a 1974 James Baldwin novel of the same name. (I’ve added the book to my “to read” list.) The main characters, Fonny and Tish, are long-time friends who have fallen in love. After Fonny is unjustly accused of a crime, Tish discovers she is pregnant. She and her family make it their mission to get Fonny out of jail before the baby is born. The story, at least in the movie, is told out of order but is easy to follow.
Despite the sadness and tension around Fonny’s incarceration, If Beale Street Could Talk is a quiet film filled with luminous scenes of Fonny and Tish wandering through the streets of New York in a haze of love. The script, the acting, the costuming, the cinematography — all contribute to the beauty of the movie. I saw many good films last fall and winter as I tried to chase down every movie on my list, but Beale Street was hands down the best of the bunch. (Yes, better than The Favorite.)
I’m not entirely sure why Beale Street didn’t get a Best Picture nomination. Maybe people believed it was too soon to nominate another Barry Jenkins film. Maybe Annapurna Pictures didn’t spend enough on a campaign for the film during nominating season. Or maybe the nominators were uncomfortable with the film’s theme. Whatever the reason, if you haven’t seen this movie, you absolutely should. Beale Street deserves better.