Replicas Possesses An Intriguing Concept That's Ultimately Undone By It's Lackluster Execution

     When it comes to popular Hollywood genres that sell with audiences, one genre that studios often find dependable in terms of financial success is that of science fiction. The latter provides both studios as well as audiences with a wide variety of stories and concepts to go off with many being based on previously established source material. In the case of Replicas, the filmmakers aim to craft an intriguing science fiction story based around the concept of cloning while taking it in a different direction than what's previously been seen before. The most recent science fiction films to tackle the theme of cloning have been The 6th Day with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Bay's The Island with Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, and 2019's Gemimi Man with Will Smith in the lead role. With Replicas, the filmmakers aim to put their own spin on the concept of cloning while utilizing Keanu Reeves as the main star of the film. Despite Replicas noble efforts to give audiences a unique Sci-Fi tale, that poses some thoughtful questions regarding the idea of cloning, the end result is a mildly entertaining to painfully mediocre effort that pales in comparison to the previous films that took its concept and handled it much better (The 6th Day and The Island anyone). For audiences, that lies a disappointment in itself given that the film has a premise that carried promise along with a reliable lead actor who understands the films concept of loss and wanting to gain back what was taken.

      The plot for Replicas centers around a neuroscientist (Played by Keanu Reeves) working to build a synthetic human brain, that can ultimately be used to transfer the minds of the recently deceased to artificial bodies. When both his wife and children end up dying in a car accident, he uses his resources to transfer their consciousness with the help of a colleague (Played by Thomas Middleditch). Although he succeeds in doing so, repercussions soon emerge with the researchers being forced to deal with the consequences. On paper, the concept for Replicas sounds strong and promising with the story posing some noble questions for the audience regarding the concept of cloning, and whether they would or should do it if such technology was available to them. The film is noteworthy in its intentions to explore themes regarding loss and how far one is willing to go to cheat death, though the overall problem with the films lies within the fact that the rest of the film doesn't meet the scope nor energy that the concept requires in order to achieve maximum effect. Replicas is a film that could've been so much more than what it ultimately ends up being and ultimately should've. The directing feels standard rather than attempt to give the film a visual presence of its own, with the films CGI effects being painfully awkward to the point of being distracting with their poor quality. Looking at many of the themes the film covers as well as its overall story, it's no mystery as to why Keanu Reeves took an interest in the film as the main character experiences a loss of his entire family (Something that Reeves himself can relate to as his ex-gf and their unborn child were both killed in a fatal car crash in 1999). One can calculate that it was that part of the script, as well as the question the film poses of whether one should clone their loved ones back to life if the opportunity was there, that drew Reeves to the film. While the film clearly had the right actor in the main role with a serviceable cast backing him up, its ultimately the films lack of enthusiasm and creativity behind its directing and writing, that bring it down from being potentially great to passable yet forgettable entertainment with painfully bad CGI. Replicas is a film where the concept stands out much more than the rest of the film.

      One of the films few saving graces is the performances of its main cast, all of whom deserve far better material than what they're ultimately given. The ones presented here make the most of their roles and attempt to make the film something more engaging than what it ultimately is. The strongest performance of the film comes from Keanu Reeves in the main role as research neuroscientist William Foster. Reeves is mostly known for giving wooden performances in his roles typically with his facial expressions tending to appear rather emotionless, though here he manages to put a lot of himself in the role as he injects a lot of emotion and humanity to his character. He's not the strongest actor around but give him the right role that resembles his personality and he can perform just well enough. Alice Eve gives a likable yet somewhat robotic performance as William's wife, Mona Foster with her performance being both a hit and miss. Eve plays Williams wife in both human and clone form convincingly well with her sharing solid chemistry with Reeves along with playing a clone, that begins to slowly suspect that William hasn't been totally truthful with her regarding what happened with the crash. Her two most common facial experiences are either extremely happy or extremely worried. Thomas Middleditch does well playing William's partner and family friend Ed Whittle, who becomes increasingly concerned about his partners obsession with bringing his family back. He takes his part and makes it work while smoothing over some of his weak dialogue. John Ortiz is effective as Jones, William's boss at Bionyne as well as essentially being the films main antagonist. Ortiz's role may come across as feeling generic with his performance appearing to just be going through the motions of being a typical corporate villain in a science fiction story, but he makes it work here and gives the film the antagonist that's needed. The rest of the cast is notable with Emjay Anthony as William's son Matt Foster, Emily Alyn Lind as William's oldest daughter Sophie Foster, and Aria Lyric Leabu as WIlliam's youngest daughter Zoe Foster. Overall, the performances delivered in Replicas aren't the greatest but prove to be serviceable enough to help bring both believability and realism to to the film. The actors genuinely do appear as if they're trying their absolute best to make their characters as well as the story work. Regardless of how audiences feel about the rest of the film, the attempts of the actors to deliver reasonably decent performances is noticeable here.

      One of the films biggest letdown is the lack of passion and creativity from its main filmmaker. The films directing by Jeffrey Nachmanoff despite being serviceable work, ultimately feels uninspired and standard with the film feeling more like a direct to DVD Sci-Fi drama rather than taking a form of its own visually as a Hollywood film. Although the film was given a budget of $30 million, it doesn't look like Nachmanoff made much effort to be creative with the film to show something interesting or impressive to audiences as the film ultimately carries with it a B- low budget movie feel with it. The robotic replicants have laughable CGI that comes across as ultimately appearing to be substandard, making them look like a cheap and watered down version of the machines from I Robot. The films cinematography is decent work though it isn't anything groundbreaking to write home as the film lacks the visual cinematic appeal of previous cloning films such as Michael Bay's The Island or the futuristic visual landscape of The 6th Day. With the films somewhat plausible production design, Replicas visual look shows hints of a futuristic type world, though the latter never becomes fully realized for the audience to experience (Which probably can be contributed to it's surprisingly low budget, that ultimately holds the film back in terms of taking risks technologically). The film moves at a fast-pace which often feels too quick given the type of story this film carries. The latter cloning films carried running times of over two hours with Replicas running time clocking in at a brisk 103 minutes. An extra 20 minutes devoted to further developing the plot and characters wouldn't have done the film any harm, as it often feels that it moves too quick considering the story and important questions it wants to cover and ultimately ask. In terms of directing, Nachmanoff's work here isn't terrible but feels painfully standard as if the film could've been made for the Sci-Fi channel. It lacks the grand technological elements to give the story the visual presence it demands to keep the audience engaged in the story. Despite a few reasonably decent technological elements of the film pertaining to its production design, it doesn't feel as if much creativity went into working within the films budgetary constraints to help add to the suspense of the plot. The films score however, does a decent job of adding to the suspense and emotion of the story, though it's also nothing amazing to write home about either. The films shortcomings in regards to both it's directing and overall visual presence only further adds to the shocking yet sad realization, that there wasn't a large amount of enthusiasm nor creativity that went into the films production from it's filmmakers as well as the studio.

      Along with the films directing being underwhelming, the script by Chad St. John based off a story by Stephen Hamel proves to be a mixed bag as it fairly develops its plot, along with posing clever questions for the audience to think about and answer for themselves. The script tackles issues pertaining to loss, grief, robotic soldiers with human minds, memories, deaf, grief, existence of a human soul, cloning, sacrifice, unethical medical practices, desperation, family, friendship, loyalty, desperation, survival, and starting over with a message that ultimately says if science is successful in bringing back the dead then the results will unquestionably be disastrous. In terms of exploring both it's plot and themes, Replicas is a film that means well but feels underdeveloped as not enough development went into crafting its story. Replicas wants to present audiences with both a unique and thoughtful narrative, though it never lives up to its promise of fully exploring its characters or story. The film clearly wants to be more than just mediocre, but its filmmakers never rise the end product over the level of being mediocre. Replicas often feels like a painfully awkward mixture of monster horror classic Frankenstein mixed with a teaspoon of Ex Machina as audiences aren't sure whether to treat Keanu Reeve's characters motives as being helpful or the makings of a mad scientist. This often feels like a script, that ultimately has half of the effort put into it with the film as a whole lacking sufficient enough life to make it memorable. The scripts development of the films main characters feels both hit and miss with Reeve's character William appropriately being depicted as a thoughtful yet obsessive scientist, whose willing to go beyond the laws of nature to help others. The latter becomes evident with his resolve to bring his family back from the dead. The conflict between both William and his partner Ed over their experiment as well as William's willingness to break the rules to ensure it works and is kept a secret from everyone else is handled well. The subplot involving William's boss being the antagonist of the film comes across as feeling generic with him playing the typical corporate shell, whose scheming to see what experiments others have created in order to take credit for their own personal gain. There's nothing to his character that doesn't feel new or groundbreaking with the subplot involving William's family being taken hostage feeling lifted from previous cloning films such as The 6th Day. What the writers do well with the character development is making William's character appear to be sympathetic at first with the audience feeling both his pain and loss, while later questioning his actions in regards to bringing his family back and wanting to hide the fact that he erased one of their family members from memory. The dialogue never comes across as being memorable and often falls into the category of being rather weak. What the script does well is explain certain aspects of the cloning process thoroughly such as the whole Lazarus/rebirth process. An example of certain aspects of the plot making little sense or representing sloppy writing are the Reeves character having four pods and only being able to bring back three of his family members with him being forced to not include his youngest daughter. In an effort to cover up his shortcomings with the rest of the family members (Now as clones), he erases Zoe's existence from their minds. This subplot doesn't make much sense when the audience figures that everyone outside of the house who knows of Zoes existence would be questioning her whereabouts. How does Reeve's character plan on keeping this from them the rest of their lives as they're bound to discover the truth at some point? The script for Replicas is full of interesting ideas and concepts, though feels as if it wasn't fully thought out to make total sense.

      In the end, it's not the fault of the actors (Reeve's and the others make the most of their parts) nor the production team for this films shortcomings in telling what feels like a compelling science fiction story, it's the lack of creativity behind the films directing and unbalanced writing that ultimately bring it down from greatness to just being watchable yet forgettable entertainment. The science behind the films plot doesn't appear to make much sense as Reeve's character is seemingly able to turn his garage into a lab overnight, or the story moving from robots to clones without a smooth enough transition from one to the other. The scripts timeline also doesn't make much sense as within a three week time frame, William is able to somehow steal all of the government equipment and change all of the research done prior to that point. The concept for Replicas is not a bad one, it's actually quite interesting and good but the execution of it makes it tough for audiences to take seriously at times. That's a shame in itself because the film delivers a strong message to audiences regarding the consequences of human cloning with the results ultimately being dangerous if science allows it to happen. The films most noblest trait is its ability to question our ethics and morals regarding a scientific scenario, that doesn't seem too far-fetched in today's world. It's too bad that the filmmakers didn't carry with them the conviction to follow though on developing the story as thoroughly as it could've been explored. Replicas serves as being a classic hollywood case of a film possessing a strong enough concept to make for a solid movie, with the film ultimately disappointing due to its lackluster execution. Despite all of its faults, the film isn't entirely horrible as both its plot and performances are entertaining enough to make it watchable at the very least. Though for a film like Replicas that has such an intriguing plot, the end result should be much more satisfactory than just forgettable entertainment. Fans of the science fiction genre are better off searching for stronger films that explore the whole cloning subplot as Replicas gives audiences sprinkles of the great SCI-FI story that it could've and should've been, but ultimately wasn't.

Final Verdict: For those who want a compelling science fiction style story revolving around cloning, one is better off watching The 6th Day with Arnold Schwarzenegger or Michael Bay's The Island instead. Given the potential that Replicas had, that's a shame because the film ultimately could've been so much more.

Widows Is A Superbly Acted And Engaging Heist Thriller Thanks To Steve McQueen's Impressive Directing

     

       Creating a heist thriller in itself can be both a daunting and challenging task as each director must bring their own stamp to the story in a ultimate demonstration of their pure craftsmanship as filmmakers. In the case of Widows, director Steve McQueen sets out to create his own heist drama with a talented ensemble cast and a strong message, which says that survival is a powerful motivator with the story being designed in a vein similar to heist classics such as Michael Mann's Heat. Though designed to appear as being popcorn entertainment, there's many layers to Widows that make it run deeper than just being a mindless heist thriller with it carrying themes revolving around politics and today's societal issues such as crime, impoverished communities, the death of a child or loved one, betrayal, and opportunism. With Widows, McQueen not only sets out to make an entertaining heist thriller, he aims to make a thought-provoking crime drama that's reflective of the many issues that people within today's society face, and shows how far these issues push people in doing whatever it takes to survive with survival being a powerful motivator for people to do questionable​ things.

      The plot for Widows takes place in Chicago with the story revolving around four women (Played by Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, and Cynthia Erivo), who share nothing in common except having to resolve illicit debts left behind by the criminal activities of their deceased husbands. The best way to describe Widows is that it's twisty in terms of unraveling its plot as there's new revelations and shocking reveals always coming up with characters. The story aims to paint itself as being a heist thriller, but takes an alternative approach while doing so with the narrative of the four widows playing out as being both a gritty and personal family drama mixed together with the films overall premise. The film places these women as its primary focus with the audience seeing their desperation turn them into partners in crime to settle their debts. The film also utilizes a political landscape with the story being set in Chicago with the subplot involving the two candidates running against each other for the position of mayor in the same district. What's remarkable about Widows is how it plays out as being a crime drama, but its themes and message run much deeper than that. While it might not have been the intense action thriller that audiences were expecting it to be depending on its marketing, it serves as being an entertaining, bold, and thought-provoking thriller that has an admirable amount of depth to it largely thanks to the terrific ensemble cast it carries as well as Steve McQueen's skillful craftsmanship as a filmmaker.

      As well-written and directed as Widows comes across as being, it's the performances delivered by its powerful ensemble cast that make it as good as it ultimately turns out to be. The performances delivered by the main cast are stellar with everyone being on top form here regardless of how large or minimal their roles are. Everyone manages to bring the same level of enthusiasm and energy to the story with the best performances coming from the actresses playing the four widows themselves. The films strongest performance comes from Viola Davis in the main leading role as Veronica, Chicago teachers union delegate and widow of Harry (Played by Liam Neeson). Davis brings a lot of power to her role and does fantastic job of conveying her characters grief over the loss of both her son and husband as well as the anger over losing both, the confusion behind hearing that he left behind an unpaid debt that's now entrusted to her to pay off, and playing the strict leadership role in regards to the female widows successfully completing their heist. Davis plays the part to masterful perfection and becomes the soul of the film. Michelle Rodriguez also impresses as the widow of Carlos and clothing store owner named Linda. Rodriguez is convincing in her role as a poverished mother, who loses her store and is forced to join Davis team to settle her debt. She gives one of her strongest acting performances since Girlfight. Elizabeth Debicki does well as Alice, widow of Florek who ends up becoming a sugar baby to support herself after her husbands death. Carrie Coon also shines as Amanda, widow of Jimmy (Played by Courbon Goss) who doesn't get involved with Veronica's group, and Cynthia Erivo as Linda's babysitter and beautician Belle, who looks after the latter's children and joins Veronica's group at the last minute. The rest of the cast deliver both strong and notable performances with Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall doing equally solid jobs as politician Jack Mulligan and Duvall as his bigoted father Tom Mulligan, whose at constant odds with his son. The rest of the supporting cast proves effective in their roles with Brian Tyree Henry as crime boss and politician Jamal Hanning, who forces Veronica into paying her husbands debt. Daniel Kaluuya steals the show as Jamal's brother and brutal mob enforcer Jatemme Manning, along with Lukas Haas as real estate developer David whom Alice shares a mutual relationship with. As for the role of the husbands (All of whom happen to be apart of Harry's crew), Liam Neeson's role as Veronica's husband Harry is minimal with him being mostly reduced to flashbacks, but he still manages to make the most of his part with turning out a noteworthy performance with the same being said for Jon Bernthal as Alice's abusive husband Florek, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Linda's gambler husband Carlos, and Coburn Goss as Amanda's husband Jimmy. The cast for Widows is a sizable one with each actor or actress getting their appropriate moments to shine with their roles. All of the performances range from being good to outstanding with the best work coming from the actresses playing the widows followed by Farrell, Duvall, and Kaluuya. The only actor that's a disappointment to see their role minimalized is Liam Neeson given how important his character is in the story despite the performance he gives being good. With Widows, McQueen puts together a fantastic casting ensemble that all work together in regards to bringing both their characters, as well as the story to life with the widow team demonstrating strong chemistry as a team.

      The films directing by Steve McQueen proves to be a strong effort with McQueen keeping the narrative focused with all the numerous subplots involving the various widows along with the conflict between politicians. He takes a genre that's no stranger to audiences and adds a different kind of flavor to the proceedings with the end result working well as both a slick form of entertainment, as well as a powerful drama about how desperation pushes people to do unthinkable things in order to survive. The film is well shot with brilliant cinematography, that showcases the South Side of Chicago's grittiness along with it's poverty-stricken neighborhoods. The flashbacks that Viola Davis character experiences when remembering Harry or her son are presented in a dream-like fashion, that makes those moments emotionally powerful for the audience with them getting a sense of the loss her character feels. The films pacing is slow-burning with minimal scenes of action but what keeps the audience engaged with the story, is the unfolding of the plot as well as its twist and turns with the cast delivering exceptional performances. The films score by Hans Zimmer is effective in regards to adding both suspense and tension to the film, while enhancing the films emotional moments. On the surface, Widows is a well-packaged and put together crime drama, that's expertly shot and well-crafted with McQueen giving the film a visual flare that fits with the emotional core of the story. Through his cast of terrific ensembles, he manages to get subtle yet powerful performances out of them by letting them have enough free reign to play their roles and bring the story to life on the big screen. What could've easily ended up being standard work for a heist thriller turns out to be such, that demonstrates tremendous skill and thoughtfulness that clearly went into differentiating the film from other crime dramas. McQueen gives the impression that he's a filmmaker whose very knowledgeable of film history, and designs Widows to be a crime thriller in a vein similar to a Michael Mann type film with political undercuttings inserted into the plot.

      As for the films screenplay, the script also written by McQueen with Gillian Flynn as co-writer, is both smartly written and well put together with the story arcs revolving around all four widows being well-established and weaving together smoothly. The balancing of each arc feels even with each character receiving the appropriate character development and background information to make their motives both understandable and sympathetic to the audience. The inclusion of the films political undertones is also handled well with those elements not feeling like they have overdominance over the rest of the story. The film clearly has something to say regarding how the issue of poverty and desperation can push people to do unethical and corrupt things in order to get by with the four widows shown to be pushed into their plan to steal from a wealthy yet corrupt politician in order to manage their debts. The script shows how these women didn't begin a life of crime but were essentially left with debts their husbands left behind, giving them no choice but to pay the tab themselves. The audience see's this with Veronica's character being harassed and threatened by Jamal Manning, who needs more money to finance his campaign against Jack Mulligan. The script also shows how hustling has become a way for both regular citizens, as well as politicians in Chicago in order to remain afloat with not just the widows hustling to pay off their debts, but Manning and Mulligan's characters both scheming and plotting to sabotage each others campaign in order to remain on top with both sides having shady dealings going on which involve crime. The script also deals with the struggle of bearing one's family name as Jack Mulligan struggles with living in the shadow of his racist father (Played by Duvall), who disguises himself as being an ally of the black community. The script for Widows has many layers to it which add to the twist and turns the story takes with subplots revealing lies, deception, and betrayal also coming into play here that makes the audience question what they previously thought about certain characters up to that point. While the heist remains the main focus of the plot, the film builds up to that moment with the establishing of all its key players with everyone having ties to the crime along with their motivations for doing so being made abundantly clear. What McQueen and Flynn do so well with the screenplay is create complex characters, that all have faces and personalities with the audience having full knowledge of who everyone is and why their involved with the heist. As Widows shows and emphasizes with its script, survival is portrayed as a game and everyone in the film is shown playing it with different methods of reaching that goal. Everyone's story is connected with their motives and intentions made clear with the audience ultimately being the jury on what's right and what's wrong regarding the whole situation.

      The most notable trait about Widows in the end is not that it desires to be an exciting popcorn heist thriller, but how much it desires to be different from all the others. The audience has seen numerous heist and crime drama films before, but McQueen manages to take the genre and steer it in another direction, that's both intriguing and reflective of today's society and the problems it inherits. He achieves this by weaving together all these storylines, that prove effective while relating them to situations and people that fit today's world. Even surprise twist moments such as Veronica and Harry's son being a victim of a fatal police shooting prove effective in showing how the family ultimately got torn apart by the tragedy and ultimately pushed towards a life of crime. Widows is a superb heist thriller/drama that's powerfully acted, smartly written, expertly directed, and absolutely sincere in it's desire to be more than just a generic crime thriller that audiences have seen before many times. The film not only offers thrills, but brains and a self-reflection of many issues currently harming society with the story showing people essentially trampling over each other for their own self-interests or bottom line. While certain subplots or characters could've used more elaboration despite them being effective nonetheless (Liam Neeson's character feels severely underused here despite his character being deceased), all of the actors deliver top notch performances with not one single member of the cast disappointing. The film might've been longer than it needed to be with minimal moments where certain scenes go into question regarding whether it needed to be included in the film, but the overall story maintains a firm grip on the audiences interest from start to finish. Widows is not like most heist thrillers and takes noticeable pride in it's accomplishment with McQueen's distinctive directing elevating it above being another forgettable crime thriller. One hopes that future directors will be inspired to take a similar approach with the genre in the unique yet grand form that McQueen and writer Flynn conducted here. Widows is one of the most underrated films of 2018 that should've garnered Viola Davis a well-earned Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a lead role for her emotionally-charged performance.

Final Verdict: For those who enjoy heist thrillers and crime dramas with a stellar ensemble cast, Steve McQueen's Widows is worth the watch if one has patience for its slow-burn pacing.

If Beale Street Could Talk Is A powerful And Emotionally Absorbing Drama That Blends Breathtaking Cinematography With Brilliant Directing

      Making a film based off an established novel can be both a challenging and daunting task on its own. The film not only has to bring the source material to life in a form that makes it affecting for audiences, but also manage to stand on its own feet as a standalone motion picture. With If Beale Street Could Talk, director Barry Jenkins manages to bring a romantic drama to the big screen that's powerful, heartbreaking, and reflective on many of the themes it covers that mirror today's society. It helps that the film is brilliantly acted with fantastic performances from KiKi Layne and Regina King, the latter who went onto receiving a well-deserved Academy Award for her performance. Whereas many films fail to do their books justice, If Beale Street Could Talk proves to be one of the rare exceptions as it not only honors it's source material but stands on its own as being a beautifully filmed story, that ultimately serves as being a true testament to enduring love.

      Based on James Baldwins classic book, the story takes place in 1970's Harlem where a young woman (Played by KiKi Layne) finds herself trying to negotiate with the legal system when her fiance (Played by Stephen James) is arrested for a crime he didn't commit. To further add more complications to the situation, she is also expecting their child. The love story that If Beale Street Could Talk carries is an unusual yet striking one due to it not only being effective in regards to being a romantic drama, but also carries with it a reflection of some of the key societal issues such as the systemic racism that African-Americans faced during the 1970's (As well as today) in regards to being harassed by police, wrongfully jailed, and struggling to find affordable housing. The film is both sincere and powerful with its message due to the intimacy of the story largely thanks to Barry Jenkins noteworthy directing, along with the stellar performances from its main cast. It becomes clear upon watching the film that both the cast and crew have something they want to say with the material, and successfully deliver their message without it feeling thrown at audiences. Although the film is essentially designed to be a romantic drama, the message the story delivers drives home the harsh reality that the American justice system is not equal towards everybody and can wrongfully convict and place people behind bars, African-Americans in particular. If Beale Street Could Talk is a film that works largely due to the sheer power of its story largely thanks to the noteworthy craftsmanship of its director, as well as the strength of its talented ensemble cast who clearly poured their hearts into their roles. The film is as much of a visual piece with its breathtaking cinematography as it is one of emotional storytelling, that rightfully placed it as being one of the finest films of 2018 with both its heartbreaking and eye-opening love story.

      As striking as the films cinematography comes across as being along with the firm directing Barry Jenkins delivers, it's the strong performances from the cast that make the story as powerful and moving as it ultimately comes across. The performances presented here are raw and emotionally-charged with everyone bringing a genuine sincerity to their characters. In the main roles, the two actors that deliver the best performances are Kiki Layne and Regina King with Layne's character providing the film with both its heart and soul. She manages to deliver both a likable and touching performance as Tish Rivers with her character serving as being the audiences guide through the story with her revealing the thoughts of other characters, while commenting on the political landscape of the neighborhood surrounding her family. The film works as well as it does because Kiki brings her character to life and makes the audience connect with her on an emotional level. They not only understand the love that Tish has for her husband but also the helplessness, frustration, and anger she feels as her family is literally being ripped from her by a biased and corrupt judicial system. As good as Layne is in her role, Regina King steals the show with her performance as Tish's strong-willed mother, whose determined to do her absolute best to try and help her daughters situation along with helping to get her husband Alonzo out of jail. King brings both strength and class to her performance with her character having some particularly strong emotional scenes (The stunning sequence involving her confronting Alonzo's mother for disrespecting Tish along with her confrontation with the woman who falsely accused Alonzo of raping her for example). King's performance puts her on top form here with her Best Supporting Actress Oscar win ultimately being justified. Stephan James meets the standard set by the other two actresses head on with him delivering a heartbreaking performance as Alonzo Hunt with the audience completely buying his characters love for Tish, along with his vulnerability and slow-realization that he may never get a chance to see his family outside of jail. Both Layne and James work exceptionally well together and share great chemistry with the scenes showing their relationship prior to Alonzo being arrested as well as during. The audience gets a genuine sense that the two main characters are deeply in love and struggling to make the best life possible for them given the discrimination they face within society with the audience wanting them to succeed despite knowing the basis of the plot. The rest of the cast deliver notable supporting performances with Teyonah Parris as Tish's sister Ernestine Rivers, Colman Domingo as Tish's father, Brian Tyree Henry as Alonzo's recently paroled friend Daniel, Ed Skrein as the racist police officer who both harrasses and testifies against Alonzo, Emily Rios in a miminal though effective performance as Victoria Rogers, the rape victim who misidentifies Fonny, and Micha Beach as Alonzo's father Frank Hunt, and Aunjanur Ellis as Alonzo's mother Alice Hunt. The cast for If Beale Street Can Talk plays a large part in regards to the film being as effective and powerful as it ends up being with everyone bringing something to the film through their performances. There is not one performance in the film that could be described as being lackluster or bad with every actor and actress bringing their A game to the project with the end result paying off majorly. The performances from the cast are brilliant and add a great deal of humanity to the story as well as believability.

      Directed by Barry Jenkins, he does a fine job of giving the film both an intimate and personal feel to it that also feels inviting for the audience with Layne's characters narration. He does well with setting up the appropriate mood and tone for the story with the film being gorgeously shot with impressive cinematography. With both the camera work and Jenkins style for setting up the films period setting, the audience gets both the look and feel of 1970's Harlem with them essentially being transported back to that setting with these characters. Mood plays an essential part of telling the story here and Jenkins creates one that's beautiful, somber, heartbreaking, and inspiring in a sense that Tish tries to keep her immediate family together despite the circumstances splitting her and Alonzo apart. The score by Nicholas Britell is well-done and takes a life of itself in the film with the music feeling as if its excessively loud at times (Though that's intended specifically for dramatic effect rather than annoying the audience). The soundtrack utilizes music that's inspired by the 1970's Harlem setting with songs that fit that time period appropriately, while enhancing the mood of both the characters and story. The films editing is well-structured with the film moving at a slow yet steady pace, that allows the main characters to be established as well as the romance between Tish and Alonzo with Tish's mom attempting to locate the woman who claimed Alonzo raped her. The narrative remains straight-forward with Tish's narration intercutting with pictures of real-life Harlem in the 1970's to support many of the facts she delivers to the audience regarding mistreatment of blacks in Harlem. The set and costume designs are both spot-on and feel legitimate to the time period of the story with Jenkins nailing the visual look and style of the film. The films sound effects go hand-in-hand with enhancing the impact of the music within the story. As far as directing goes, Jenkins takes the novel the film is based on and brings it to life in a fashion that's absorbing and visually appealing to watch with audiences having little to no trouble with being drawn into the film.

      The films screenplay also by Jenkins based off of Baldwin's novel, proves to be a strong effort in taking the source material and translating it onto the big screen in a way that audiences in today's generation can connect with along with older audiences. The script covers themes pertaining to the criminal justice system, false accusations and wrongful convictions, racism, love, family, faith, important life choices, parenting, pregnancy out of wedlock, dreams, sexual assault, plea deals which many African-Americans were forced to take in hopes of reducing their sentencing, and hope. Jenkins takes all of these themes (Many of them which mirror problems that many African-Americans and people of color face today) and explores them throughout the script in a way that's both straight-forward, as well as eye-opening for the audience to think about, process, and ultimately realize. He does a fantastic job of building up the romance between Tish and Alonzo with showing their relationship beginning at a young age to it progressing into something that's real with their relationship shown to be that of true love. With the script, Jenkins makes it a point to show how their young love inspires other people to help them such as the young Jewish landlord (Played by Dave Franco) taking a chance on Tish and Alonzo by renting out a studio apartment to them based on how much they appear to love each other. The lawyer helping Tish free Alonzo is also shown to become more emotionally invested in the case as he fights harder for the release of his client while quietly showing disapproval at the judicial system, that's harshly keeping Alonzo and others like him unfairly locked up. Jenkins also shows how faith plays a key role in Tish's family maintaining both their strength and hope that Alonzo's accuser can be found, and admit that she made a mistake in wrongfully accusing him of rape. The most powerful moments of the film that drive the emotional core of the story are those in which the characters have quiet moments in which their thoughts are either explained to the audience through Tish's narrating or they deliver powerful monologues to the audience that sum up their fears and frustrations. One of the films key moments that shows how flawed and broken the justice system is during the visit Tish's mother pays to see Alonzo's accuser with the latter revealing her uncertainty of whether it was Alonzo that raped her, but essentially settles on him being the one out of frustration for what happened to her. Such a moment is a heartbreaking and pivotal one for the audience as the reality of the story weighs in on them. Overall, the script is a solid and well-written effort that conveys much about what the main characters are feeling within the story, while showing a sad and harsh reality that many people of color (African-Americans in particular) experienced then as well as continue to experience now.

     In the end, If Beale Street Could Talk delivers on it's promise to adapt its novel to the big screen in a way that remains faithful to its source material, while transforming it into a motion picture that's both affecting and moving with its ultimate message regarding love and showing a deeply flawed and biased judicial system. The film is wonderfully told with terrific performances from its main cast and directing by its filmmaker, who continues to demonstrate his craftsmanship as a filmmaker with both his work here and his previous directing job with the 2016 Oscar winning film Moonlight. Beale Street is a film that's not devoid of a soul and aims for the audiences heart in making them care about the young lovers, while asking the hard-hitting questions about what the pursuit of justice actually means in America and whether the system is fair to everyone with Jenkins showing the sad reality that it isn't. The film is a shining example of how a well-framed narrative and strong cinematography can blend well together in telling a story that's not only engrossing, but an essential one that shows the power of enduring love. The end scene of the film involving Tish, Alonzo, and their young child is one that's powerful yet heartbreaking with it bound to hit the audience hard in the when the credits roll. The film is subtle in it's storytelling, gorgeous in its framing, and manages to humanize all of its main characters to the audience with their motives and feelings being made visible. Although it may be a bit too depressing of a watch for certain viewers, it will entertain, enlighten, and remind others that love is real and will endure broken systems regardless of how trapped people feel as shown by the main characters in the film. In an era where many of the films themes have been brought to the forefront regarding major societal issues that people face today, the film almost essentially demands required viewing with the outcome being a rewarding one nonetheless.

Final Verdict: For those looking for well-constructed historical set pieces as well as moving romantic drama with a predominantly black cast, If Beale Street Could Talk is a film that certainly requires and demands your viewing.

The Hate U Give Takes The Youth Film Genre And Pushes It Further With Its Hard-Hitting Yet Timely Message

     One of the most notable aspects of storytelling lies not just within its ability to entertain, but also its capability to deliver stories to audiences containing narratives that are hard-hitting, informative and thought-provoking. Those types of films are unique because of their abilities to reach audiences with their engrossing themes and messages regarding societal issues, which audiences can relate to while informing others. With The Hate U Give, the film is direct in its intentions to not only entertain its audience but to deliver a powerful message regarding a cycle of violence that's continuously being directed at a specific group of American citizens. Premiering at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, the film proved to be a box office success grossing $34 million domestically on a $23 million budget along with the film receiving unanimous critical acclaim with a stunning 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Much of the films praise was directed towards the strong performance from lead actress Amandla Stenberg in a breakout performance as a young African-American girl struggling with maintaining two different versions of herself in society (One for her family and neighborhood, the other for her school), while coming to terms with the killing of her longtime childhood friend at the hands of police. The films good fortune both financially and critically, is well-deserved as The Hate U Give delivers on its promise of being an emotionally absorbing and eye-opening experience for audiences with a narrative that reflects on a very serious issue that minorities face in today's society. For a young-adult film, it largely impresses in regards to quality while taking the youth genre in a more serious direction with issues that many young people find themselves facing.

      Based on the young adult novel of the same name by Angie Thomas, the plot for The Hate U Give centers around a young African-American teenage girl named Starr Carter witnessing the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend by a young police officer. Torn between the world of the one involving her family/neighborhood and the other with her attending a mostly white prep school, Starr is forced to choose between the two as she faces pressure from all sides to do the right thing in regards to testifying, as well as speaking out regarding her friends killing. The plot for The Hate U Give serves as being bold and speaks to its audience in a form that's designed to spark thought-provoking discussions regarding whether a person should have to feel the need to form two different sides of themselves to fit within society as a whole, as well as the unjust shootings of young African-American men at the hands of police that has become a major issue in today's society. The film explores these issues in great depth and brings awareness to them with the audience, along with delivering a final message that can best be summed up as a rallying cry for audiences to do their own part in regards to being apart of the overall solution to these issues. The Hate U Give is a raw and emotional story that's bold in scope, completely noble in its ambitions, and delivers its message with a tremendous amount of heart and passion behind its production. It's not easy viewing and comes across as being unapologetic with the harsh realities it shows along with the conclusions it draws, but it's a film that audiences needed and ultimately can be both entertained by and learn from as it's a story that feels perfect for current times with terrific performances and sincere directing to back it up.

      Much of the films success at effectively telling it's story lies within the strong and energetic performances of its main cast with everyone bringing their A game to their roles. The performances that the film carries come across as feeling both sincere and heartfelt with the amount of emotion the actors put into their roles. The true standout performance goes to Amandla Stenberg in her role as Starr Carter with Stenberg creating a sympathetic character, who essentially walks as if she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders in regards to fitting in within society, as well as struggling over making the right decision in regards to speaking out regarding her friends killing. The role requires an enormous amount of emotional depth for the actress playing it with Stenberg managing to meet the challenge head on, showcasing a surprising amount of dramatic range. Regina Hall and Russell Hornsby both shine as Starr's parents, Lisa and Maverick carter with Hall nailing both the loving and concerned mother role to a T as she wants her family to have a better life outside of their neighborhood, despite the insistence of her husband that their place is with the rest of the African-Americans in their community. Hornsby impresses in a commanding performance as Starr's father Maverick with his character being a stern father figure, who not only loves his kids but attempts to shield them from the outside forces surrounding them such as the local gangs, along with being stopped and questioned by police. Hornsby plays his character as being an imperfect father figure, who realizes the error of his past in regards to being a former member of the local neighborhood gang called the King Lords, which landed him with a three year prison sentence. Lamar Johnson also does well playing Starr's older half-brother Seven with him sharing a natural chemistry with Stenberg, Hall, and Hornsby. The rest of the supporting cast give notable performances with KJ Apa as Starr's boyfriend Chris, who struggles to understand what Starr is experiencing but remains supportive of her nonetheless. Sabrina Carpenter proves effective as Hailey Grant, one of Starr's High School friends who slowly unveils racist thoughts regarding the fatal police shooting as the story progresses. Other strong supporting roles are Common as Starr's uncle Carlos whose a police detective, Issa Rae as April Ofrah, a protest organizer who pursues Starr to not only testify against the officer that shot her friend but also to become a national voice against police violence, Dominique Fishback as Starr's best friend and Sevens half sister Kenya, TJ Wright as Starr's younger brother, Megan Lawless as Starr's loyal school friend Maya, and Anthony Mackie as leader of the neighborhood King Lords gang named King. The cast as a whole for The Hate U Give proves to be terrific with everyone delivering performances, that add to both the believability and realism of the story. Everyone appears to be genuinely passionate about the story they're bringing to the screen with them taking their roles and making the most out of them. Despite the casts strong work overall, it's Amandla Sternberg's performance that makes the film as powerful as it ultimately comes across.

      The films directing by George Tillman Jr. is both steady and well-handled with Tillman giving the story a personal yet somewhat epic feel to it with all the different themes it covers. He keeps a firm hand on the wheel in terms of keeping the films narrative focused, while allowing the actors to control the scenes with their performances. He manages to get one's out of his cast that feel both convincing and real with the camera capturing every ounce of emotion that's visible on the actors faces. One of the strongest aspects of the film on its technical side is the cinematography it delivers. The cinematography does a fantastic job of showing the two different worlds that the character of Starr inhabits. For the predominantly surburban white school that Starr goes to, the camera work captures blue lockers and a glass that reflects the sky in contrast to Starr's fictional hometown Garden Heights, that appears scorching hot with red and orange curtains filling up the main characters family house. The camera work does much to show the distinction between the two sides of society through the perspective of Starr, as she struggles to survive both. The films editing maintains a slow pace allowing for the audience to become drawn into the story with them getting a feel for all the key characters in the film, while waiting anxiously to see what happens next involving Starr's character. The films score by Dustin O" Halloran is beautiful and helps add to the emotional power of the story along with conveying the switch that Starr's character makes when juggling both worlds. As far as the films directing goes, George Tillman Jr. does a terrific job of bringing the best-selling novel to life on the big screen while allowing the film to take a life of its own. The films visual elements presented here are used in a way that benefits the story with none of them ever feeling as if they distract from the overall story or narrative. Tillman gives the film a young adult style feel to it, but also manages to surprise as well as impress with the maturity that's brought to the screen regarding the films story and themes. He turns out to be the reliable and dependent filmmaker, that the cast can rely on in effectively delivering their stellar performances.

       In terms of the films writing, the screenplay by Audrey Wells is well-structured and asks the hard-hitting questions regarding many of the films themes that the script touches on. Some of the themes that the film covers deal with racism, police violence against African-Americans, sacrifice, gangs and gang life, the flawed justice system, unity, and ultimately change. While it may seem that the script juggles far too many themes within its story, Wells manages to explore all of them with enough depth throughout the course of the film without the story feeling overwhelmed or bloated. She does an exceptional job of building up all the key characters in the film, while supplying them with enough development to make them feel like real people that the audience may know personally or come across. The internal struggle that Starr's character experiences in regards to trying to fit into the two different worlds she lives in, is well-balanced and begs the audience to question whether anyone should have to feel the need to leave behind one side of them at home in order to fit in another part of society. This is a film which feels that the dialogue is key to conveying the characters feelings and emotions to the audience with Starr asking her family and friends the hardball questions that come with brutal answers. Some of the films most powerful moments where the character of Starr feels the struggle of learning where her place is within society are the moments where she clashes with her friend Hailey over whether the actions of the police officer in the killing of Starr's childhood friend was justifiable or whether the officer in question deserves to be sympathized. Another key moment is one involving both Starr and her Uncle Carlos in which Starr questions him on how he would approach a rich white man in the same scenario as khalil with Carlos answer confirming a bias in the way African-Americans are predominantly treated by cops. The subplot between Khalil and Starr is brief but effectively developed to where the audience get a sense of their relationship before tragedy strikes. As intense and heartbreaking as the story comes across, the moments where the films heart truly shines through are those with Starr and her family which include references to Harry Potter and knowledge that their father instilled into their heads to empower his kids. The films opening scene where the audience witnesses Starr's father giving his children an uneasy conversation regarding what to do if they're pulled over by police, is brilliant in serving two purposes which include instantly drawing the audience into the story along with setting up the key plot element of the film while representing classic foreshadowing. The work that Wells does on the films script is both masterful and poetic with each character subplot working within the films overall plot. The film has much that it wants to say with its 130 minute running time and here Wells utilizes each moment including many of the key characters to get all of the films main points across. As well-written as the script is, it's a great shame that the film failed to receive a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

     Having said that, The Hate U Give certainly won't be a film that everyone will particularly want to watch nor enjoy as some audiences will find both uneasiness and discomfort with many of the revelations the film exposes. The film is aimed to give it's audience both a powerful and emotional story, that often serves as a reflection of our own society and it's major problems. In that regard, the film fulfills it's intentions to the fullest while sparking a discussion that audiences may not be comfortable with having, but should in reflecting on many of the issues presented in the story. The Hate U Give is a young adult drama that's fierce in it's storytelling, bold in it's scope, unapologetic in the conclusions it draws, and urgent in the era its story is reflecting on. It hits the audience hard with its themes while effectively placing them into the shoes of the main character as they not only grow to care about Starr, but want to see her do the right thing in the end which is to become the voice for the voiceless. As an issue film, it hits the audience hard and demands they take action in regards to making the change the movie calls for in regards to breaking the cycle of violence that occurs frequently between police and African-Americans. For both the audience as well as the character of Starr, they find a young heroine/rebel that they can get behind and root for as she essentially begins the film struggling with maintaining two different personas before embracing her true self by the films end. It's a film that audiences may or may not be ready for but is certainly one that they should at the very least experience once in their lifetime.

Final Verdict: One of 2018's underappreciated and forgotten gems, The Hate U Give is a surprisingly strong and unsettling young adult drama, that hits the audience hard while making them reflect on the society they currently occupy.