This film is beautiful. It’s heartbreaking, but it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful in how it’s told, in the love of family, in the belief in others, in tenderness. It’s beautiful visually. It’s beautiful to experience. It’s also, though, heartbreaking in the reality that is injustice. And discrimination. It’s heartbreaking in the reality of hate-filled people. It’s heartbreaking in the reality that is our criminal justice system. And yet it’s still beautiful. To me, the beauty overrides the heartbreak.
In spite of the harsh part of this tale, what lingers with me a week (plus) after seeing the movie is the love and hope and faith in each other so richly displayed between Tish and Fonny, the young couple at the center of the story, and especially within Tish’s family. It is that family (throughout the story, Fonny clearly is a part of this family even if not technically) through which love and hope and determination shine. And shine brightly, those things do.
But what drives the story is the underlying injustice. My heart ached to view what was clearly unjust and yet was also so apt as an example of what happens. One misidentification, whether due to ambivalence or revenge, ignorance or hate, fear or pressure, and a life—lives—are caught up in the system’s web and in jeopardy. This isn’t fiction. And it isn’t exaggerated. I’m not saying we don’t have the best system out there. But it is far— chasms— from being perfect, especially when hate and racism can be such large players in the system.
Regina King, nominated for Best Supporting Actress, delivers a strong performance of determination, love, and faith as Tish’s mother. She is the backbone of the family through which the story is told, fierce in protecting her loves and soft in working through challenges within the family. The way she shifts between the levels of tenderness and resolve, like any mother will do, is what makes her performance outstanding. King takes her character’s willingness to protect her family and embraces that love and strength but does it so softly and so subtly that it felt real. I still have one more Best Supporting Actress role to see, and even as much as I loved the film that provided two such nominations, King is my choice to win.
The film is also nominated for Best Original Score. I haven’t seen all of the competing films (and I likely will see only three of the total five), but I wouldn’t be surprised if Beale Street won. I’ve always liked a score that contributed to the overall feel of a movie. Given how I found myself so moved by the movie, although I did not particularly notice the score (as I did with The Book Thief), I comfortably say it’s deserving of the nomination in how the score surely was part of why the word that repeatedly comes to mind for me regarding Beale Street is beautiful.