If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

The word that kept flashing through my mind: sumptuous. Is this one of the most beautiful movies I’ve ever seen? The costumes, the cinematography, the actors…my god, everything is so beautiful. Even the screenplay felt heightened, nearly poetic at times, in the same way the color palette was saturated and the lighting was lush. It all stands in stark contrast to the deeply despairing story that unfolds, the tale as old as time of structural racism tearing apart black families. That dissonance cut me to the quick, and this ranks up there as one of the better movies I’ve seen as part of my 100 year project.