Directed By Stella Meghie

Starring – Lakeith Stanfield, Issa Rae, Rob Morgan

The Plot – When famed photographer Christina Eames (Chante Adams) unexpectedly dies, she leaves her estranged daughter Mae Morton (Rae) hurt, angry and full of questions. When a photograph tucked away in a safe-deposit box is found, Mae finds herself on a journey delving into her mother’s early life and ignites a powerful, unexpected romance with a rising-star journalist, Michael Block (Stanfield).

Rated PG-13 for sexuality and brief strong adult language

POSITIVES

– Sensual stars. It would be a grave disservice to kick off talking about anything other than the magnetic chemistry of Stanfield and Rae, which like a normal relationship evolves the longer they partake in one another. For Stanfield it’s another chance to prove he’s a genre chameleon, this time radiating as a romantic lead without sacrificing the sharp tongue of wit or facial depth that we’ve come to expect from him. Rae is also breaking down walls for her typical fare, growing her hair out and reserving her comedic talents in favor of playing an articulately career driven woman who steals every scene with her electric smile. These two constantly hold us hostage under their spell of seduction, and on top of credible supporting cast members like Morgan, Lil Rel Howery, Chelsea Peretti, and Courtney B. Vance, round out a charming ensemble that doesn’t supplant a single weak link in the chain among them.

– Distinct music. This is littered literally everywhere throughout the film in visual capacity, harvesting a grounded love and reality for the big apple that displays weight in the film’s dominant setting. However, it’s the musical vibrancy that takes center stage, and outlines a layer of sophistication for the film in jazz accompanying that sounds so unlike anything else in the genre from the past decade. Composer Robert Glasper deserves all of the credit, and through many tempo-changing compositions involving everything from the saxophone, to the jazz piano, to even the occasional tambourine when it’s feeling inspiring, he captures every movement of the relationships contained with a score that is culturally relevant for the pivotal pieces in frame. Easily my favorite score early on in 2020.

– Tasteful love scenes. There are two in the film, and while each express definingly different traits to reciprocate their vastly different decades of technique, they are both mastered beautifully without requiring the imagery to sell them. For one, there is no nudity anywhere in the picture, and it’s a decision that I feel took nothing away from the exuberating passion that Stanfield and Rae showed each other in the heat of the embrace. Beyond that, everything is shot tightly to articulate their proximity, but not close enough to jumble what is taking shape in frame. Everything is easily registering, and accomplishes so much without feeling overly-exploitative in bodily energy or time donated to each impactful sequence. It’s a fact that makes me glad that it wasn’t rated R, if only so more youths can embrace the film’s underlying proof that love isn’t always a rampant physical confrontation.

– Non-linear storytelling. The entirety of the script takes us through two on-going timelines between mother and daughter, being used to parallel the similarities in romantic histories that make them closer than time would ever allow. This works for an array of reasons, but mostly two that come to mind immediately. First, each timeline is mirroring what is taking place with the other, but the scenes never feel repetitive to the point it feels like we’re watching each beat for beat play out, just the general outline. Secondly, with the exception of one midway through the film, the transitions are smoothly and clearly defined each and every time without requiring color correction or obvious timestamps of permanency to sell them. So many films with non-linear structures fail to master this unorthodox style of storytelling, but Meghie casts great importance in generational connection, and soon it makes it difficult to imagine the film without playing one off of the other.

– Natural dialogue. During a weekend featuring heavy expositional films like “Sonic the Hedgehog” or “Fantasy Island”, it is refreshing to embrace a film that takes time to flesh out character personalities and multimedia tastes. Because of such, the evolution of conversations throughout the film feel enriched in this layer of authenticity that continuously attains this feeling that we’ve walked into an ice-breaking conversation between lovers or friends. One such conversation between the two leads starts with an examination of Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake, then leads to awkward exes, then ends up on their respective careers. It feels as spontaneous as anything that I’ve heard in cinema, and allows no irritating instance when the immersion of believability is broken, allowing two familiar stars to transform into normal everyday people.

– Great date movie. What makes this perfect for the Valentine’s Day weekend setting, aside from its plot about two people meeting and falling in love, is the the measures it takes in appealing to both sides of the gender audience, in hopes of making this something that doesn’t feel like a drag on either. For my money, the film’s message plays into this more than anything, and will inevitably make couples cherish the one they’re with during this sitting. There are many themes throughout, but the overwhelming one is choosing love over a career, which in turn solidifies living life with no regrets. It’s food for thought that material things never measure up, and nothing can compare to those moments with her or him when, as the movie quotes, it feels like you’ve kissed for a lifetime. Beyond this, males will also appreciate that the movie’s dialogue or material isn’t overly sappy, or doesn’t take place in what looks like a Banana Republic commercial. I’m talking to you, Nicholas Sparks.

– Variations of love. Refusing to settle for a one-sided stature when it comes to its material, “The Photograph”, beyond its importance on dating love, it’s also about parent/child love, and how that relationship weighs heavily on the latter’s decisions. It’s rare that a romantic feeling will dive so deep in psyche, but to see our two leads acting in a way that reciprocates what they’ve been taught as children, provided an air of depth to the movie’s material that would otherwise go ignored in the weight it supplants to the current day narrative. This element of the script allowed me to forgive itself from some of the second act tropes that we’ve come to expect, and gave appreciative meaning for why it spent so much time unveiling the older subplot. Not too many films share this aspect of relationships in romantic comedies, and give butterfly effect nuance to how the movements of a parent can manufacture an effect that takes shape long after they’re gone.

NEGATIVES

– First act skidding. This film doesn’t get off to the best of starts, which in turn make it difficult to invest in these characters long before their initial first meeting. The context for Stanfield’s job and story are very jumbled, with us never understanding whether he works for a magazine, or newspaper, or website?? Also, why would he fly several states away when he could just as easily pick up a telephone and call the person of interest that his story requires. Finally, the romantic interest itself comes from Stanfield seeing a picture on his interview’s wall. This not only makes it feel awkward in initial discoveries, but also presents his character as a bit of a stalker for how he then wishes to interview Rae and go to a foreign film because he heard she would be there. It’s the obvious weakness in the film’s otherwise cohesive two acts, and doesn’t get off to the best of starts in selling itself to its audience.

– Predictable. It’s a bit of a disappointment that the film never diverts itself from the familiarity of tropes and cliches of the genre that often make each film interchangeable. In this instance, there’s one twist and a few subplots that I accurately predicted in the execution. For the twist, the movie makes it feel like some big mystery, but I thought that was the film’s intention the whole time, and that all of its characters already knew this bombshell of information. The film could’ve definitely used a wrench in its telegraphed plans to make this anything but the conventional routine it quickly became saddled with, and it all makes for an experience that felt like I was constantly a few steps ahead of the intelligent characters portrayed in the movie.

– Pacing issues. This isn’t with the movie feeling boring or even challenging on my overall interest into it, but rather what the run time (101 minutes) did for the relationships depicted. As to where the conversations and everything else surrounding them felt natural and protected with care by Meghie, the movements of the relationship felt like they advanced too quickly to feel smooth. In the mother arc, scenes feel missing between two instances where one second characters are making love and full of happiness, and in the next at a conflict where one of them needs more out of life. For the daughter subplot, there’s a noticeable distancing scene that involves Rae traveling down south without Stanfield. It gives them distance at the point when they need togetherness at the most, and brings to light one of the only problems in casting importance to two different subplots simultaneously.

My Grade: 7/10 or B