If Beale Street Could Talk opens its heart so easily, so simply, so delicately that you can't help but find it's opened yours, too. The movie is an adaptation of James Baldwin's novel of the same name. It starts with a long quotation from Baldwin: "Every black person born in America was born on Beale Street, whether in Jackson, Mississippi, or in Harlem, New York. Beale Street is our legacy." It's Harlem in the 70s. Fonny and Tish are young and in love, when Fonny is framed by a racist beat cop and imprisoned. While behind bars, Tish discovers she is pregnant and visits him frequently. The movie pits its characters against racist American society. While the anger and the sadness in the face of that reality run through the film, the power of earnest unwavering love creates space for joy.
