Hey everybody! It's February! It's winter! and there's snow end in sight! (that was bad, I apologize for nothing). I have our next film selected, and just like all the years I've done this, I relied on my research skills and relentless study of all of film history to find the most perfectly perfect pick! I'm kidding, it just popped into my head, as always. Normally, I show a Romance of some sort because of Valentine's day, but this year I've selected a film that honors both Valentine's Day and Black History Month. Our film this month is Jeff Nichols' wonderful film, Loving.
Loving is a 2016 American biographical romantic drama film which tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, the plaintiffs in the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia, which invalidated state laws prohibiting interracial marriage. The film takes inspiration from The Loving Story (2011) by Nancy Buirski, a documentary which follows the Lovings and their landmark case.
The film was directed by Jeff Nichols, who also wrote the screenplay. Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton co-star as Mildred and Richard Loving. Martin Csokas, Nick Kroll and Michael Shannon are all featured in supporting roles. The film received praise for its acting, Nichols' direction and screenplay, and the film's faithfulness to the Lovings' account. It holds a certified fresh rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes and Brian Tallerico, writing for Rogerebert.com, gave the film 3.5/4 stars saying this in his review, "Jeff Nichols' "Loving" is that rare mainstream film that provokes frustration and rage without resorting to monologues or melodrama. The two people at the center of this period drama aren't prone to long speeches. They're quiet, conservative, almost shy folk who ended up at the center of one of the most important Supreme Court cases of the '60s by virtue of falling in love, getting married and having children. Nichols' approach is careful, reserved and deeply considerate of the human story he's trying to tell. There's no sense of exploitation here. One can sense a director's understandable trepidation in telling the story of two private people whose life was made very public. What's most important to Nichols' vision is how much trust he has in his two leads, and what they give back to him in exchange for that trust."
We will be meeting Thursday, Feb. 24th at 5:30.
Here's a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRXuCY7tRgk
Hope to see you there!
