Set in Harlem in the early 1970s, If Beale Street Could Talk is based on the bestselling novel by James Baldwin. It is a story of love and hope, even when nothing goes your way, and the system seems designed in such a way that there is no way to win.

19-year-old Tish (KiKi Layne) and 22-year-old Fonny (Stephan James) have been friends and soulmates for most of their lives, and discovered a romantic love for one another. They are now planning their future together, getting engaged and finding a new apartment. However, just as they are getting ready to move into the next chapter of their lives, Fonny is arrested and falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit. As he sits in jail, awaiting trial, Tish learns that she is pregnant. She hopes that Fonny will be able to prove his innocence and will be released before the baby is due, but things aren’t looking good. The trial keeps getting delayed, and Fonny’s lawyer needs money in order to track down the victim, who fled to Puerto Rico.

Fonny’s mother and sisters don’t approve of Tish, and don’t get along with her family either. Tish’s family is not wealthy, but her parents Sharon (Regina King) & Joseph (Colman Domingo), and sister Ernestine (Teyonah Parris) are supportive of her and Fonny. They do all that they can to help with Fonny’s case, with and prepare for Tish’s new arrival. Sharon even makes the trip herself to Puerto Rico to try to convince the victim to recant her false identification. However, Fonny’s situation is not something new to them—this is just another example of a systemic problem with the judicial system that ends up with many innocent folks from black neighborhoods being unjustly sent to prison, or never getting their day in court.

The film opens with a quote from author James Baldwin, referring to his novel, “Every black person in America was born on Beale Street in the way that it is the legacy of every black neighborhood across America. This novel deals with the impossibility and the possibility, the absolute necessity, to give express to this legacy.” In short, that while these events take place in Harlem, this is really just a microcosm and the same things are happening in every black neighborhood across the country. In fact, these events are still quite relevant even 40 years later.

I’ll start with the positives. This is a beautiful looking film, that successfully transports the viewer back to the 1970s. The performances are also excellent. There is a palpable chemistry between KiKi Layne and Stephan James, making it easy to believe that Tish and Fonny love one another and want to sped the rest of their lives together, and the story of these two coming together and falling in love, and not letting the physical walls of prison separate them is a beautiful one. The Rivers family is the epitome of what all families strive for. Despite not having physical wealth, they find richness, happiness and joy out of their love for one another. No matter what gets thrown at them, they rely on one another to keep up the hope that things will get better. This film can be depressing and hard to watch at times, but there is this pervasive and underlying message of hope, despite the fact that it seems like there is no way for this family to win against a biased system. It’s a story of whether love is strong enough to overcome systemic oppression.

I wasn’t a fan of director Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning film Moonlight, and had similar feelings about this film. While the overall story and message is a good one, I found the film to be quite slow at times—it’s not until 38 minutes into the movie that we finally find out why Fonny is in jail, and what crime he’s accused of—and poorly executed. Also, the editing can be odd and disorienting at times. The film constantly jumps back and form between the past and the present, flashing back to slowly reveal how Tish and Fonny fell in love, courted, had sex for the first time, and got engaged. In addition to this, the film often breaks into these montages of news/archival footage, with Tish providing narration about systemic oppression—these feel a bit out of place and preachy at times. I am not familiar with the book, so I can’t personally speak to how close of an adaptation this is, but based on the audio commentary, it seems like the film is quite faithful content-wise, though the way the story is told differs somewhat.

FOX’s Blu-ray release provides somewhat solid audio and video. The picture is clean and crisp, and captures the colors and tones of the 1970s beautifully. However, I found some scenes to be a little too dark, causing the actors to blend into background. One example of this is a scene where Tish and Fonny are walking through the park late at night. The audio track provides clear dialogue and makes use of the stereo and surround channels, but I didn’t find this track to be quite as immersive as other recent films. For example, in a scene where it’s raining outside, I didn’t get that full-on feeling like I was standing in the middle of the rain, like I’ve experienced while watching other films. The Blu-ray and DVD discs come packed in a standard multi-disc HD keepcase with a cardboard slipcover, along with a code for and HD digital copy. The discs contain a nice assortment of bonus material, including 22 minutes of deleted scenes, a 27-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, a production photo gallery, the film’s trailer, and a feature commentary by the director.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:59:05)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.00:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

DVD:

• 480i / Anamorphic Widescreen 2.00:1
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
• Closed Captions

Digital HD (Digital Code May Not Be Valid After 2021)

• HD Movies Anywhere copy of the film.

Extras:

• Deleted Scenes (22:17)
  Collection of 9 deleted scenes with optional commentary with director Barry Jenkins. Play All, or select from:
  • “Meet the Rivers” (2:32)
    A formal introduction to Ernestine and Joseph, and how the Rivers family comes together for Tish.
  • “Where My Life Is” (2:06)
    Longer scene with Fonny professing his love for Tish.
  • “Old Enough To Know” (4:44)
    Fonny brings Tish back to her home after they’ve had sex for the first time, and asks for her hand in marriage.
  • “What Have They Done?” (1:22)
    Deleted montage scene built around narration from the novel.
  • “Have a Good Day, Sir” (1:27)
    Scene not from the book where white lawyer Hayward recognizes the dynamic between him and the black bathroom attendant.
  • “I Saw Bell Everywhere” (1:15)
    Deleted scene from the book with Tish’s final encounter with Officer Bell.
  • “Somos Familia” (2:18)
    Pedrocito tries to comfort Tish at the restaurant as she stresses about the upcoming trial.
  • “They Found Frank” (3:53)
    The original ending from the novel.
  • “A Great Big Table” (2:45)
    Scene showing how Fonny’s plans for the loft actually came to fruition.
• If Beale Street Could Talk: Poetry in Motion (27:35)
  The cast and filmmakers give a a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film. Some of the topics include author James Baldwin and his work, faithfully adapting his novel, the characters and how their story is still relevant today, casting the family, recreating the 1970s in the sets, clothing, hair, and makeup, and developing the score. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with screenwriter/director Barry Jenkins, producers Dede Gardner, Sara Murphy, Adele Romanski & Jeremy Kleiner, makeup department head Doniella Davy, costume designer Caroline Eselin-Schaefer, hair department head Kenneth Walker, production designer Mark Friedberg, and stars Colman Domingo (“Joseph Rivers”), Regina King (“Sharon Rivers”), KiKi Layne (“Tish Rivers”), Stephan James (“Alonzo ‘Fonny’ Hunt”), Teyonah Parris (“Ernestine Rivers”), Brian Tyree Henry (“Daniel Carty”), Ed Skrein (“Officer Bell”) and Finn Wittrock (“Hayward”).
• Gallery (1:05)
  Allow the slideshow to automatically advance every 5 seconds, or manually step through this collection of 12 production photos using the remote.
• Theatrical Trailer (2:04)
• Commentary with Director Barry Jenkins (1:59:05)
  Director Barry Jenkins provides an interesting and informative commentary throughout the film. He often points out the scenes that are loyal to the novel, and those that were invented for the film, and provides scene-by-scene notes on the story, the characters and their motivations. He also discusses the filming locations, casting, the use of narration and montage, the camera technology, how scenes were blocked and shot, and more.

Final Thoughts:

I wasn’t a fan of director Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning film Moonlight, and this film didn’t help win me over to the director. At it’s core, the film has a beautiful love story, and an uplifting message of hope. And while the film has a beautiful look and excellent performances, I found the film to be a bit slow at times, with the editing and story-telling methods to be a bit clunky and sometimes heavy-handed. Fans of the film, the novel, or Jenkins’ work in general should appreciate the solid selection of bonus material, including many deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes look at the film, and an interesting director’s commentary. All told, the film is still worth a look based on the performances and story, I just wish it had been executed a little better.