Everything that director Barry Jenkins accomplishes in Moonlight is also suffocatingly apparent in his latest Oscar-seeking picture, If Beale Street Could Talk. Based on literary fiction just like his l ast work, the film focuses on the neighborhoods which the characters inhabit, creating a surreal quality where his characters are slowly enveloped in their inescapable and highly romanticized lives. Sure enough Beale Street does talk, but due to a thin plot patched with lingering sequences and insufferable pacing, the story it tells is no more than a murmur in a city filled with chatter of injustice. There's little new to be found in a film that could be described as a cliché wrapped behind layers and layers of artistry and hues.
I don't mean to belittle the timeless story of young love, the victimization of Blacks in America, and the potential Oscar nominations that Beale Street will garner. There's definitely an important message to take note. But notes are meant to be taken freely at will, not premeditated and forced upon, especially through sappy cameos by Dave Franco. And Franco isn't the only actor with a shallow performance of a shallow character. Many minor characters rely on transparent stereotypes in order to fulfill their purpose. Of course, it doesn't help that only a few of the characters have the chance to unfold beyond their primary motivators of naive love and familial bonds. Newcomer KiKi Layne is unfortunately forgetful as the one-note lovebird, Tish Rivers. Regina King, who plays her mother, has a much better chance of emotionally engaging viewers and gaining recognition for her performance.
What this movie definitely won't be recognized for is its unfinished ending, not to be confused with an open ending. Blade Runner, Black Swan, and Inception all have fantastic open endings. If Beale Street Could Talk ends on an unoriginal second-to-last stanza. After a two hour investment of "I love you"s, a completed story is expected.
But really, what do I know? As a theatergoer who thought La La Land and Get Out should have won Best Picture during their respective years, maybe I don't know or appreciate Oscar-bait films as much as I think I do. Or perhaps it's Jenkins's lyrical style that I find, for the lack of a better and more accurate term, boring.