If Beale Street Could Talk doesn’t come out until November 30, but the reviews are already overwhelming positive. This should not be a surprise, considering it was written and directed by Moonlight‘s Barry Jenkins, but Ron Howard made The Missing after winning an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind, so you never know. Beale Street (which recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival) currently boasts a 92 percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics calling it a “masterful poetic romance” and a “haunting, gorgeous film.”
Set in Harlem, New York, in the 1970s, If Beale Street Could Talk follows Clementine “Tish” Rivers (played by relative newcomer Kiki Layne) and Alonzo “Fonny” Hunt (Race‘s Stephan James), two lovers who are torn apart when he’s falsely accused of rape. When Tish discovers she’s pregnant while Fonny’s in prison, she attempts to prove his innocence before their child is born. The film also stars Colman Domingo, Teyonah Parris, Michael Beach, Dave Franco, Diego Luna, Pedro Pascal, Ed Skrein, Brian Tyree Henry, and Regina King.
You can watch the trailer above. Here’s the official plot synopsis.
After her fiancée is falsely accused of raping a woman, a newly-engaged Harlem woman tries to prove his innocence before she gives birth to their child. Facing an uncertain future, the couple find themselves desperately clinging to survival at any cost.
For more on Jenkins, here he is discussing Moonlight with us.
