Underground Railroad (2021)

It almost pains me to give this a 4, but it also is difficult for me to recommend this in good conscience. By no means is it bad; it's as incredible as everyone says and I'm glad to have seen it, experienced it. But it's a super challenging watch. I think it's the most brutal depiction of slavery I've ever seen. And yet it's depicted with such mastery and dare I say beauty. The cinematography is stunning, and coupled with Nicholas Britell's haunting score, it is nothing short of beautiful. But beautiful just doesn't seem like the right word to describe a slavery tale. I think the shots that perhaps best epitomize Barry Jenkins's style is the shots in which the slaves stare down the camera. His camera is fluid (he loves those long takes), it moves around a lot, but the figures stand still and tall, dignified. Without words, with empathy, Jenkins confers upon them the dignity that they were denied. The imagery is extremely powerful. 

I was led to believe that it was more of a magical realist take on historical fiction, but it isn't quite magic. Though I suppose you could say that an actual underground railroad is something fantastical. Cora goes from one terrible locale to different kinds of horrible places. And when she finally finds supposed-paradise, it is snatched away in a rather painful episode. There is a heavy emphasis on testimony, that the escaped slaves must provide a written account in order to board the train. It is as if to say that people need to know what happened here, history demands it, lest we forget it. Thuso Mbedu does a lot of heavy lifting  as Cora, processing many complex emotions. And I think Joel Edgerton is actually extraordinary too as the slave catcher Ridgeway. 

I found the 10 episodes to be the opposite of binge-able. Especially in the early episodes, many of the depicted brutalities keep you from clicking next. Hard to do any more than a couple at a time. It's a lot to take in. The end credits of each episode are played over modern music, whether Outkast, Marvin Gaye, Mahalia Jackson, Childish Gambino or Kendrick Lamar. It's surprising, immediately pulling the viewer out of the world, giving us a respite from the horrors of the episode. An orchestral arrangement of Clair de Lune plays over a sensitive show-stopping love scene. The use of music is brilliant. Jenkins and Britell have one of the best director-composer partnerships in the business.

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Goosebumps. This movie gave me goosebumps in a way the book did not. Simultaneously beautiful, breathtaking, and tragic, this James Baldwin adaptation is a bold follow-up to Moonlight for Barry Jenkins. His direction is meticulous. He takes small brilliant liberties in acting out scenes undescribed in the novel (moving furniture), and sticks closely to the book in tense scenes of despair (and one big liberty in changing the ending). The cinematography and lighting are stunning. The centered head-on shots in which the audience is confronted by the helpless gaze of our protagonists are heartbreaking.

The soundtrack by Nicholas Britell is achingly beautiful. You could feel the audience in the packed theater all holding our collective breath in anxiety. The horns and swelling strings cue the viewer to exhale a sigh of brief reprieve to celebrate the love at the center of the story. The music slowly pulses the audience along to the tragic fate we know awaits. And I'd like to say that it is because I read the book that I know how it ends, but that's not it. We implicitly know how this story ends because it is the story of being black in America, in the 70s and in the 21st century just the same. The film opens with a passage from James Baldwin explaining the title. The eponymous Beale Street is a stand-in for any main street in an American city where the Fonnys and Tishes survive.  Fonny is a noir-ish character, helpless to change his fate. This is most devastating in the moments we get to soak in their joy and love (of partner, of family, of community), in the character of Daniel foreshadowing what fate lies ahead, and when the baby finally arrives.

The entire cast is superb. The leads have perfect chemistry. Kiki Layne is absolutely radiant. Regina King is gripping. The whole supporting cast, the ones with just one scene each, Brian Tyree Henry, Dave Franco, Pedro Pascal, Diego Luna, etc are all scene stealers. You have to let this one simmer a bit, that slow burn is unlike anything else this year.

Moonlight (2016)

It's difficult to put into words what exactly is so incredible about Moonlight. To just say it's timely and important is to totally miss the point. It is a very rewarding albeit challenging experience. The movie is so powerful and personal and yet simultaneously restrained. In movies about a rough childhood, you expect screaming matches at every turn, but it's not that kind of movie. Barry Jenkins has so much control over the pacing of the story that these three small snapshots of Chiron's life become an epic tale of life. An epic that is not extraordinary, but rather authentic and raw. It is so powerful because it is realistic. Mahershala Ali shows us the drug dealer character, but he overcomes the stereotype by being vulnerable. He takes us past the tough guy persona and puts a human dimension to his character. Even if you have not lived Chiron's life, you are made to understand it and contemplate identity and intersectionality in a way that most people never do. The audience is given a lot of time to think and simmer. The moments of silence are plentiful. Tense and deliberate, they are the things that don't need to be said out loud that we simply read through context that are really heart wrenching. It is something that I think surely gets lost in the Italian subtitles, that were woefully inadequate. They did not catch the subtlety of the language, nor the slang nor cadence. I could imagine the hack job they did dubbing the film.

The three actors that play Chiron and the three actors that play Kevin are all excellent. The progression of their characters is impactful. Kevin is played with such charm. And Chiron, again, is just so restrained. Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris are Oscar nominated, deservedly so. I think it's also worth pointing out Janelle Monae, who has had an excellent year out of her element, or rather in her new element. In addition to singing and performing, she is now a bona fide actress.

The camerawork is beautiful. The first thing I noticed was the strong depth of field. In the very first scene, the characters look almost hyper real standing against the blurry background. And the camera revolves around them in a single take. The scene in the ocean, accompanied by the intensely searing violin, is striking. The camera dips in and out of the water as the waves lap over it. It is a visceral experience. The music throughout the film is really well chosen.  I don't know what it was but the instrumentation in all of the songs chosen fit each scene perfectly.