Loving (2016)
*** (out of 4)
Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton) marries his pregnant girlfriend Mildred (Ruth Negga) but soon afterwards they are both arrested. Richard, a white man, and Mildred, a black woman, are forced to plead guilty to avoid prison time but they also must leave the state of Virgina. Soon the ACLU hears their case and tries to get it to the Supreme Court.
LOVING is another winner from writer-director Jeff Nichols who is certainly one of the most interesting filmmakers out there. It seems a lot of movies based around race were released in 2016 and many of them were based on true stories, which includes this one. If you're already familiar with the story then it's doubtful anything here will blow you away but at the same time if you're unaware of the court's decision and you're not familiar with these old laws then you're more than likely to really be caught up in the picture.
For the most part this is an extremely well-made movie but I must say that there were a few problems that I had with it. For starters, the film is very low-key, which is an interesting way to tell the story and I thought the director perfectly captured the "country life" by filming the picture this way. The problem is that there's really no drama to be had throughout the film as nothing is really played up for the sake of building up any tension or drama. I'm not sure why Nichols went this direction but I really thought it gave the film an almost made-for-television feel. I'd also argue that the lack of any drama leading up to the Supreme Court showdown also took away any emotional impact.
With that out of the way, the main reason to watch the film are for its two lead actors. Both Negga and Edgerton did a fantastic job with their roles and the best thing is certainly their chemistry together. I really loved how the two actors worked off one another and they really did make you feel as if you were watching a real couple struggle with this issue. I thought both of them had to do a lot of acting without using too many words, which is a difficult thing to do yet they both pulled it off. The supporting cast of characters were all extremely good as well.
As I said, I thought the film lacked a lot of drama or emotion but there's still no doubt that the story itself was a very interesting one and the performances were certainly great.
