Director / Jeff Nichols (MIDNIGHT SPECIAL, MUD)
Stars / Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, Martin Csokas and Nick Kroll
THE LOVING STORY, a documentary from 2011 which follows Richard & Mildred Loving and chronicles their landmark case has been heavily relied upon to accurately capture and tell many private details in this tenderly rendered, yet drawn-out cinema adaptation.
It is the late 1950’s in Virginia. Richard Loving (Australia’s Joel Edgerton), a white construction worker, has fallen in love with and decides to marry local woman Mildred Jeter (Oscar-Nominee Ruth Negga). Although they wed in Washington D.C, they are arrested shortly after returning to Virginia, in breach of its anti-miscegenation laws.
This obstruction of civil rights commences a lengthy legal battle for the Loving’s that will ultimately go all the way to the US Supreme Court.
As LOVING commences, Richard & Mildred are already at quite an advanced stage in their relationship together. The fact that no further background detail is divulged, regarding them as individuals and the foundations of their love, doesn’t enable viewers a genuine understanding of how the Loving’s will stand firm when the going gets tough. Another questionable decision belongs to the unexpectedly distant approach taken in the discourse of all legal proceedings from start to end. Rather than involving audiences among the detail, Nichols has assigned particular characters to act as messengers for most courtroom matters which we seldom see. This take may have worked if it weren’t for the sparing dialogue and lack of anticipation in outcomes of court hearings.
These errors of judgement from Jeff Nichols, who is an experienced and promising writer/director, underplay a story that is seismic in scale. The significance of what has been achieved isn’t given the justice it deserves and the emotional toll it undoubtedly would have had on the two lead characters has also been filtered out. This is a disappointing effort that fails to register the impact it should have easily achieved.
2 stars
Moviedoc thanks Entertainment One and The Backlot Studios for the invite to this event and film screening.
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