An Amazon Prime release from last year starring Tessa Thompson. Thompson is outside of a theater in New York in the 60's when from around the corner appears an old beau from back in the day. Told through flashback, we see Thompson, working at her dad's music store, played by Lance Reddick (the happiest I've seen him in many a performance), when in comes a musician, played by Nnamdi Asomugha (Kerry Washington's hubby in real life), who inquires about their Help Wanted sign in the window. A romance soon stirs but when Thompson gets pregnant & Asomugha's band gets an extended gig on the road, she elects not to tell him & they go their separate ways. Thompson, on a lark, applies for a production job as an assistant on a cooking show where she excels in her job & finds time to marry another man (he works in advertising) but due to her daughter, it's more a marriage of convenience than genuine affection but on that fateful night when they reunite, old feelings come stirring back. Will the second time around be a rousing success or another footnote in Thompson's life? Feeling the same way I did for another recent urban romance, The Photograph, the film is fine for what it is w/the added benefit of being a romance of a certain time between people of a certain race but take that away, you get a story which is mainly surface w/the depiction of prejudice mostly put on the backburner (which isn't necessarily a bad thing but given the time & the circumstances, I would expect the topic would be constantly a subject of conversation). The leads also overcome this niggling critique w/Thompson (suave as ever in couture not out of place on her exceptional frame) w/Asomugha picture postcard cool. Also starring Erica Gimpel (Coco from TV's Fame) as one of Thompson's friends, Jemima Kirke (from HBO's Girls) as a patron of the arts who takes a liking to Asomugha's band's lead singer, John Magaro as Asomugha's manager, Wendy McLendon-Covey (from Bridesmaids) as the cooking show hostess & a small role by Eva Longoria as the house mother for Asomugha's band.
Review of Sylvie's Love
