Loving

2016's "Loving" by Jeff Nichols.
Starring Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, and Michael Shannon.

Nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Ruth Negga).

Ever felt like you were just born in the wrong time? Just unable to be yourself? Based on the true story of Richard and Mildred Loving, "Loving" shows us a Virginia based inter racial couple during segregation (1958 onwards), who decide to elope in the District of Columbia before returning home. Eventually they find themselves imprisoned, for the crime of being together while being of different races. There's an aboriginal term, Ilira, where one is so overwhelmed by oppressive circumstances that they are helpless to fight back. Here we see just that from the couple, as they are imprisoned, before pleading guilty in court to dating eachother. They do so to under duress from the local sheriff, to righteous state judges, while their lawyer nods approvingly. It's tough not to let your blood boil at such stories of injustice, but Nichols avoids easy cliches and unblinkingly focuses on the couple that bend but never break.

Edgerton's plays 1 of the most tolerant people in intolerable times you'll ever see, but never grand stands, and at times, gets in his own way because of his simplicity and quietly mistrustful nature of the system that got him in hot water in the first place. Negga is revelatory as the quietly dignified and resolute Mildred, and has earned herself a Best Actress Nomination. Why stop there? For Best Picture nominations, the Academy has my permission to swap "Hidden Figures" with "Loving" tout de suite. Maybe the Academy felt "Loving" needed to be more obvious as a Racism is wrong! picture, or perhaps just more of a courtroom drama complete with cheering spectators. Nichols, who's having a heck of a year (also making "Midnight Special" with Edgerton and Shannon), knows better than to pander and just follows history, which is heartfelt enough.


4/5










Trailer: Click Here.