Directed By Chinonye Chukwu

Starring – Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison

The Plot – A profoundly emotional and cinematic film about the true story of Mamie Till Mobley’s (Deadwyler) relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till (Hill), who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie’s poignant journey of grief turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother’s ability to change the world.

Rated PG-13 for thematic content involving racism, strong disturbing images and racial slurs.

TILL | Official Trailer | MGM Studios – YouTube

POSITIVES

Part of what makes biopics so appealing to me are the gut-wrenching stories and compelling character studies that permeate with real life stakes and consequences, and in that regard “Till” is one of the most breathtaking experiences that I have had in 2022, but for what is possibly all of the wrong reasons. That’s not to say that this is a bad film, but quite the opposite, as the remarkable direction from Chinoye Chukwu grants us unapologetic access and insight into the very truths and feelings of one of America’s darkest days, all the while dropping our jaws in more ways than one that will make this story unshakeable long after its conclusion. For starters, Chukwu remains committed to her many depictions with emotional emphasis, whether in the candid love shared between a mother and her boy, or the traumatic visuals and suffocating atmosphere that is usually only reserved in increments for the audience, thanks to convenience in editing, but here anchors down continuously during those tender moments to remain permanent in the minds of its audience with unflinching relentlessness. The visuals themselves are unsettling and haunting, with the merit of some make-up and prosthetics that illustrate the anguish and suffering of its victim, and the unfiltered access to Mamie during her most trying times nearly borders on exploitative, but never fully crosses that line, thanks to the aforementioned character study running simultaneously with her overwhelming grief. In establishing such, Mamie becomes a voice for the voiceless of minority injustice in the south, all the while battling the vulnerability of losing the most important person in her life due to the racism of a community that she previously saw coming. This elicits a coming out party for Danielle Deadwyler, who not only commands the screen with a riveting rawness that showcases strength and sadness in a thunderous emotional registry, but also one that connects her psychology vividly to the audiences interpreting her overwhelming grief. Her turn is easily my favorite thus far in the 2023 Oscars race for best actress, and even if she doesn’t win, she deserves acclaim for the way she brought the horror and inspiration of this mother’s conflict to life. Jalyn Hall is also a remarkably effective presence, despite the limitations of his screen time. Hall imbeds to Emmett an abundance of charisma and corresponding innocence to the air of his personality, instanly making the character adorable but all the more empathatic to those of us who unfortunately already know what is coming with his fate. There’s also clever usage of music used sternly throughout, but particularly during the opening act, where a lighthearted track initially will slowly shift and transition towards something all the more unnerving and sinister. This is very effective in obvious foreshadowing, despite the predictability factor of the story itself, but beyond that paints an endearing discourse for the character depicted in frame, for all of their fears and anxieties of a world nowhere near the kind of change continuously promised in pamphlets and election videos.

NEGATIVES

Though the film is competently able to elude most of the thematic tropes that reside within contemporary biopics, a duo of meandering technical qualities to the film’s presentation left more to be desired towards making it feel anything but cheap. Without knowing the exact specifics of the film’s budget, I can say that the sound mixing here feels a bit intrusive on the naturalistic qualities of the aforementioned top shelf performances, particularly during the second act, when Mamie is put through the ringer of tenderness and vulnerabilities that nearly swallow her whole. During these tearful diatribes, the musical score swells to overwhelming volumes, and the microphone work of her deliveries feel engulfed with artificiality, taking scenes enriched with naturalistic pain and agony, and adding an unnecessary emphasis on them that feels a bit manipulative and over the top in the most soap opera kind of manner. Beyond this, there are some strange instances with C.G backdrops that I feel were used to further illustrate the timely imagery of the setting, without spending the necessary cash to convey. This is especially apparent during single character framing, primarily during the first act train scene, where the lighting of a character lacks authenticity with the textures or tones of the ensuing backdrop, leaving it feel so heavily etched in studio interference, with intrusions that continuously broke my investment to the integrity of the sequence.

OVERALL
“Till” is a powerful account illustrating a mother’s determination to gain justice against the unaccountable. With the benefit of Deadwyler’s devastating thunderstorm of a performance, as well as emotionally moving direction for Chukwu never granting the audience the freedom to look away, the film is able to override some of its momentary glitches with production, in turn cementing an unconventional biopic that attains compelling storytelling, despite the subject matter being a haunting reminder of the racism that unfortunately still plagues our country.

My Grade: 8/10 or B+