If Beale Street Could Talk

Onstage at San Francisco Symphony’s SoundBox, Jenkins was joined by his longtime friend and collaborator Nicholas Britell who, backed by the SF Symphony, made a live case for the vitality of film scores interested in “amplifying characters’ emotions, not imposing.” 

One of many steps non-Black allies are taking to dislodge an indoctrinated white perspective is to infuse their watchlists with media that confronts racism and the realities of Black people in America.

“If Beale Street Could Talk” harks the power of love to inspire resilience.

While the Academy Awards’ red carpet is typically known for conventional elegance and safe fashion choices, this year’s Oscars was laden with show-stopping risks that certainly paid off. Stars from across the film industry joined to honor this year’s top productions, and they ended awards season with a bang.

Though the show featured some pleasantly surprising wins and an impressive number of awards given to artists of color, the moments we could champion were quickly snuffed out by those that disappointed.

This awards season has truly been a wild ride; fingers crossed that optimism will prevail and the Oscars will emerge from this critical inferno having made some good choices.

Even though “Beale Street” is a better film than “Vice,” the latter is the easier awards sell. As films such as “Darkest Hour” or “Bohemian Rhapsody” can attest, even awful-to-mediocre biopics with strong central performances are an Oscars shoo-in for best actor and best picture.

The world is blooming with powerful Black-centered works of art.

As an admirer of all types of films, an enduring line of criticism frustrates me as I scroll through movie reviews. Because of the diverse array of films that have emerged since the origin of projected cinematographic motion pictures in the late 1800s, individuals have an incessant tendency to compare and contrast