Certificate 15. Running time: 1hr 59 min. Drama, Romance. Doors open at 7pm
Set in early-1970s Harlem, If Beale Street Could Talk is a timeless and moving love story of both a couple’s unbreakable bond and the African-American family’s empowering embrace, as told through the eyes of 19-year-old Tish Rivers (screen newcomer KiKi Layne). A daughter and wife-to-be, Tish vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have connected her and her artist fiancé Alonzo Hunt, who goes by the nickname Fonny (Stephan James). Friends since childhood, the devoted couple dream of a future together but their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit.
If Beale Street Could Talk honours its source material with a beautifully filmed adaptation that finds director Barry Jenkins further strengthening his visual and narrative craft as the filmmaker poetically crosses time frames to show how love and humanity endure.
