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FILM Michael McDermott Hannah McKennett Edd Norva
l Jack O’Higgins Shane O’Reilly illustration John White If Beale Street Could Talk Director: Barry Jenkins Talent: KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King, Brian Tyree Henry Released: 8 February Remember, love is what brought you here. And if you’ve trusted love this far, don’t panic now. Trust it all the way. – Sharon Rivers, played by the Oscar nominated Regina King, imparts advice in Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel. The Kindergarten Teacher Director: Sara Colangelo Talent: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Parker Sevak, Gael Garcia Bernal Released: 8 February Lisa, played by Gyllenhaal, is a kindergarten teacher struggling to find her inner artist. Outside of her job she goes to poetry classes run by Bernal’s character. Her poems, much like everyone else’s in the class, are middling and average at best. Despondent with her own weak efforts, she’s determined to nurture (or perhaps harness) the unmistaken talents of one of her five-year-old students (Jimmy, played by Sevak) who has a propensity to vocalise wonderful haikus. From the get-go everything about this film feels creepy. Lisa starts feeding off the child’s talent as a source of nourishment for her own life. With a very intense performance from Gyllenhaal, her slightly manic nature becomes more and more untethered as the film progresses and the level of nurture provided by her is trampled by a sense of righteousness to claim the child as her finding and saving grace. It’s a fairly microscopic film, coming at you from all angles with the possibility of something going horribly awry hanging over almost every scene like the sword of Damocles. It’s made all the more captivating by Gyllenhaal’s desperation and wide-eyed emotionless face. We never really know Lisa or what drives or even haunts her, which is a pity, really, as a bit more context would have given this film more balance. But otherwise the plotting and pace are perfect throughout and the obvious direction the film seems to be headed in is thankfully avoided, replaced with a somewhat bizarre, albeit fitting, ending. SOR If Beale Street Could Talk, the latest film by Moonlight director Barry Jenkins, portrays the pain endured by black communities when their sons and daughters are unjustly imprisoned. It’s equal parts devastating and hopeful as it depicts black solidarity in the face of systemic racism. The film, an adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel of the same name, follows Tish and Fonny, a young black couple in 1970s Harlem. After a run-in with a racist cop, Fonny is falsely accused of rape. As he awaits trial in jail, the family is hit by another bomb shell; Tish is pregnant with Fonny’s child. The film mimics the non-linear structure of Baldwin’s novel by cutting between Tish and Fonny’s budding romance, and their family’s attempt to clear his name. Beale Street contains the same sensual eye that made Moonlight so captivating. There are lingering close-ups of lips, or the flick of an eye as it meets another. A sex scene between Tish and Fonny frames and stages black bodies in a tender, loving manner that is rarely seen in mainstream American cinema. That romance is also strengthened by Nicholas Britell’s stunning score, which brims with swooning jazz-inspired strings and brass. Beale Street is the kind of film that can find endless beauty in a couple walking down the street. While the film frequently makes the heart sing, it’s also unflinching in its rendition of black oppression. One of the most haunting scenes in the film is between Fonny and his friend Daniel, played by the incredible Brian Tyree Henry. Daniel was convicted of grand theft auto, despite not knowing how to drive. As they sit in his apartment, Daniel hints at the crippling abuse that he endured in prison. He never explicitly says what he experienced, but Henry’s anguished eyes convey all you need to know. But though Beale Street is undoubtedly powerful, its impact is lessened by the occasionally leaden approach to the material. Formally, Jenkins and his DP James Laxton have abandoned the naturalistic hand-held camera work of Moonlight for a much more deliberate style and pacing. Sometimes that rigidity cripples the actors, who seem a little wooden in their physicality and line delivery. Jenkins and his editors also struggle to serve their large cast of characters; many of them simply disappear from the narrative without any kind of resolution. That hurts the film, which wants to depict the wide-sweeping effects of Fonny’s incarceration on his family. And yet the film still has enough sincerity and affection for its central couple that it can’t help but succeed. Like many a film, Beale Street tells us that love can endure anything. Normally that would be a pretty trite message. But by putting it in the context of unending racial persecution, Jenkins makes a powerful statement. JOH Boy Erased Director: Joel Edgerton Talent: Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe Released: 8 February In early naughts American culture, boys must adhere to the strict rules of toxic masculinity or face erasure. In director Joel Edgerton’s depiction of Garrard Conley’s memoir Boy Erased, this erasure comes in the form of conversion therapy camp. Jared Eamons, played by an unforgettable Lucas Hedges, attempts to embody the rules of manhood put forth by his pastor father (Russell Crowe), his Arkansas hometown and Dr. Sykes (played by Edgerton himself), the director of the misleadingly titled Love in Action therapy program. He takes part in an asexual high school romance with a cheerleader, he catalogues his homosexual thoughts in his “moral inventory” homework and he practises the “manly” posture (hands on hips, legs apart) taught by a homophobic former-convict at the program. However, scenes of brutality, as well as the humorous typos in the program’s textbook, cause Jared to question his faith. Not far behind him is his Southern Belle mother, played by a ravishing Nicole Kidman, who gains a quiet independence as her son’s only supporter. Jared’s – Garrard’s – story is at times bleak, at times tender, and at times utterly unbearable. Edgerton carefully balances hope and anger with the film’s dismal surroundings and orchestral score. He avoids the clichés of an ever-growing genre (the coming out story) with his bluntly honest portrayal of a very real part of American culture that still has the power to shock audiences. While the story sometimes feels familiar and its drab setting gives it a muted quality, its crescendo and release are ultimately cathartic. At its core, this is a tale about a society that tried to erase human differences – and failed. Thanks to the impressive performances by a group of people who just seem to want to bring this story to the public, among them gay pop icon Troye Sivan, who plays a fellow boy in the program. HMK 76