Directed By Rachael Holder

Starring – Andre Holland, Nicole Beharie, DeWanda Wise

The Plot – A writer named Roger (Holland) navigates complicated relationships with his ex, an art gallery owner (Beharie), and his current lover, a newly-single mother (Wise), with the support of his best friend (Roy Wood Jr). A modern romance set against the rapidly changing landscape of Brooklyn, New York

This film is currently not rated

Love, Brooklyn | Official Trailer

POSITIVES

In her feature length directorial debut, Rachel Holder tenderly evokes a poignant celebration of life, love and evolution in the depths of her titular setting, as seen through the eyes of a scintillating love triangle full of its own complexities and complacency, and though it doesn’t always stick the rewarding landing with its dominant narrative pertaining to the inability to let go of past conflicts, Holder effectively proves a lot of commanding craftsmanship in the way she helms the picture, appraising a love of love, soul and sensuality for a place that feels very personal for her. On a visual level, “Love, Brooklyn” certainly transfixes the audience with an alluring romanticism for the intended setting, both with stunning scenic shots in neighborhood navigation from Martim Vian, that vibrantly tap into a seemingly undiscovered side of Brooklyn that is not unfortunately rarely showcased in cinema, but also the intimately warm and glowing atmosphere permeating effortlessly within the respective dynamics of this aforementioned triangle, an aspect made poetic with the score and soundtrack’s decision to channel soulfully stirring underlining tracks and instrumentals to such an engagement that is blossoming with passion. Vian crafts a lot of tight framing shots to flourish the impeccable chemistry between the movie’s charismatic leads, but beyond that allows ample time and opportunity in the digestibility of the lingering facial registries to show the audience in subtle responses more than it’s telling us in clumsy dialogue, with the responses being intentionally animated (Especially Beharie’s), without feeling distracting, all with the intention of never obscuring what is painfully transparent. On the subject of that screenplay, Paul Zimmerman does a remarkable job not only at keeping the interactions ripe with rhythmic banter within his many conversations, allowing them grace and naturalism to flourish such a uniquely vital connection to each of the triangular dynamics, but also refreshingly inspires such an unforeseen depth of conscience and identity to these characters that thoroughly fleshes out all of their wants, needs, and ensuing virtues, beyond simply just shallow exposition, making it all the harder for the audience to inevitably choose a side with whom they ultimately want Roger to end up with. In fact, Holder has gone on record as stating that she refused to include any villains in her film, instead crafting a story among good people continuously working through relationships of connection, allowing the audience an unfiltered honesty without manipulation that forces us to approach these characters merely at face value, all with evidentially upfront positives and negatives to each respective situation that makes Roger’s imposition all the more glaringly frustrating, yet one that he undoubtedly had a major hand towards constructing. The performances are also entirely exceptional and mesmerizingly charming, with Andre Holland, Nicole Beharie, and DeWanda Wise each enacting so much scene-stealing personality to the constructs of their meaningful turns. While it would be satisfying enough to endear the fly-on-the-wall perspective during fiery flirtations between these very beautiful people, that seamlessly immerses us into the background of what’s transpiring, it’s all the more enlightening that each of them conjures such a lingeringly longing remorse within their inevitability to change, making them feel every bit connected in conflict as it does relatable to the audience, with each of them registering seemingly endless tears on tap to inspire vital empathy towards each of them, despite the irresponsible decisions of Roger often driving the divide of what eventually transpires. Last but not least, I want to give some attention to the wardrobe designs here from Missy Mickens, who captures so many of the black creative styles of Brooklyn among its trio of characters, that seamlessly reflect their varying personalities. For instance, being that Beharie’s Casey is a quirky art gallery owner with Caribbean roots, Mickens dove headfirst into assembling such visionist clothing that stands out at being both eye-catching without sacrificing classiness, and with Holland’s Roger basking in the relaxed threads of his mirrored demeanor, and Wise’s Nicole flourishing in orange, in order to articulate her rebirth as a widow, Mickens is able to appraise sentimental meaning into the insight of each character, allowing an independent darling of a movie the opportunity to exude upper class fashion typically donned to big budget productions.

NEGATIVES

While we would expect most of the movie’s inferiorities to come from a lack of experience within its director, it’s actually Zimmerman’s aforementioned script that does most of the notable damage, particularly in the lack of time and attention paid to the gentrification of its city that is introduced in the opening scene of the movie, and then never further elaborated on until its closing moments. It hurts enough that the social commentary pertaining to such a subject is so surface level and shallow, failing to unearth any kind of meaningful observation that deviates on everything we know about the situation, but it’s even worse when the closing moments seem to openly embrace such a cultural eradication, leaving me scratching my head to what the film’s intentions truly were, even as it showcases the beauty in a black culture that subverts cinematic tropes and expectations. This isn’t the only arc that is barely focused upon, however, as a subplot involving Roger’s best friend (Played by Roy Wood Jr) possibly cheating on his wife goes absolutely nowhere, until the movie is forced to address it during the tail end of its tumultuous third act. It’s an example of Zimmerman possibly attempting too much ambition to a film that on its own romantically inspires more than enough dramatic depth to allure an audience, and though it didn’t completely compromise my final feelings on the film, it did make me wish more time was given to the 92-minute runtime, in order to further flesh out some of these vital dynamics that could allow the film to stand apart from most contemporary romantic drama’s. Beyond this, my only other problem with the film pertained to its plaguing predictability, particularly in the resolution of this love triangle that somehow elicited a frustratingly bleak ending, despite so much promising possibility in the outline of its set-up. Part of the problem could definitely be that the movie shows its hand too early and often, with regards to Roger’s inability to confront change, summoning an unavoidable feeling in my mind that had me accurately reaching the intended destination in my head as early as the film’s half hour mark, but just as much responsibility belongs with the contrived instances of some of the materializing conflicts during the movie’s second half, where Roger’s destructive tendencies forcefully opt out of a clear and narrow path to satisfying resolution, all in order to breed an unfulfilling ending that will inevitably alienate most of the paying audience with it, on account of the metaphorical meaning of piecing together Roger’s own turbulent dating life alongside the cultural gentrification that Brooklyn is facing.

OVERALL
“Love, Brooklyn” is an affectionately elegant meditation on life, love, and inevitable change, all flourished impressively by Rachel Holder’s entrancing directorial debut enacting so much entrancing beauty and cultural adoration for a city whose soul is literally crumbling at the seams. Despite a promising opening half, featuring a trio of mesmerizingly charismatic performances, the unexplored ambitions of the floundering script nearly condemn it, resulting in an intricately messy and unsatisfying execution that subdues the substance from matching so much transfixing style in the dream-like captivity of the established setting.

My Grade: 6.9 or C+