After his debut feature Medicine for Melancholy marked him a director to watch in 2008, Barry Jenkins then pulled a vanishing act for eight years. He re-emerged in stellar fashion with 2016’s Best Picture Oscar winner Moonlight, and having recaptured our attention Jenkins decided not to wait around quite as long for a followup. Debuting in Toronto is Jenkins’ adaptation of James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk, and an impressive trailer for it has just debuted.
Starring Kiki Layne, Stephan James, Teyonah Parris, Regina King, Colman Domingo, Diego Luna, Pedro Pascal, Dave Franco, Brian Tyree Henry, Ed Skrein, and Finn Wittrock, the film features another incredible ensemble that Jenkins looks to have gotten the best from. The story follows Tish, a newly-engaged Harlem woman whose fiance Fonny is falsely accused of rape, and she must race to prove his innocence before the birth of their child. The release of the trailer comes on Baldwin’s birthday, and this vibrant, lush drama looks like a fitting tribute to the renowned writer.
If Beale Street Could Talk hits theaters on November 30th.
