If Beale Street Could Talk

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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Beale Street is a 1.8-mile stretch of broken pavement in downtown Memphis, running from East Street to the Mississippi River. The oldest known reference to it is a song called “Beale Street Blues” by W.C. Handy.

In 1974, James Baldwin wrote his fifth novel, a love story set in Harlem in the early ‘70s. But he gave it the title, “If Beale Street Could Talk,” a reference to Handy’s blues.

As he wrote: “Every black person born in America was born on Beale Street, born in the black neighborhood of some American city, whether in Jackson, Mississippi, or in Harlem, New York. Beale Street is our legacy.”

In reviewing the book, Joyce Carol Oates called it “a moving and painful story.” She went on to say, “It stresses the communal bond between members of an oppressed minority, especially between members of a family.”

More than just a novelist, Baldwin was a social critic. His novels and plays examined complex social and psychological issues related to African Americans, gays and bisexual men.

However, in “If Beale Street Could Talk” Baldwin gave us a surprisingly tender love story that remains “ultimately optimistic” despite tragic consequences.

Barry Jenkins — the filmmaker who won an Oscar for the LGBT-themed “Moonlight” — now has turned Baldwin’s novel into a haunting, lyrical movie. It, too, is an Oscar contender.

In it, we meet a young black couple who grew up together, then fell in love. Their story is presented as a series of vignettes that are laced together — light and dark — to form the narrative.

Tish (newcomer Kiki Layne) is a 19-year-old who lives in Harlem with her parents Sharon (Regina King) and Joseph (Colman Domingo) and her sister Ernestine (Teyonah Parris). One day Tish realizes that her childhood friend Fonny (Stephan James) is in love with her. Her happiness is fulfilled when she becomes pregnant with his child.

That news is not well received by Fonny’s ultra-religious mother (Aunjanue Ellis) and judgmental sisters (Ebony Obsidian and Dominique Thorne), despite his alcoholic father (Michael Beach) standing up for the young couple.

Nonetheless, love radiates from the couple until an event upends their hopes and dreams: Fonny is falsely accused of raping a Puerto Rican woman. Forget that Fonny was across town with Tish and a friend (Brian Tyree Henry), he’s fingered by a bigoted beat cop with a grudge.

The love story turns into a tragedy — but not quite. There is still majesty in their love, in the bonding of family, in the bravery of facing a social system that works against them.

“If Beale Street Could Talk” is sharing this timeless story at Tropic Cinema. Take a walk down Beale Street.

You should also read the book. The late James Baldwin’s carefully crafted prose shares Tish’s inner thoughts, making the connection between you and her world palpable. You sense the sadness and anger of Black Americans who have been relegated to a position of less than equality … yet they carry on despite the despair.

Here, James Baldwin sings the blues.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com