Loving

Grade: B-

Writer/director Jeff Nichols has made a fine film with Loving, a true story about an interracial couple in the mid 20th century. Richard and Mildred Loving go up to Washington DC to get married, then go back home to Virginia. At the time, it was legal for an interracial couple to get married in DC, but illegal for an interracial couple to get or even BE married in Virginia. So they get in trouble with the law, and a lawyer is able to cut them a relatively easy deal. Leave the state and it’s all good, and in the mean time, they are not to be seen in Virginia at the same time for 25 years, or they will be re-arrested.

Due to the similar issue regarding same-sex marriages, and how long it took for that to finally be made legal, Loving feels relevant. There’s a perfect example of a score complementing the action, when Mildred receives a phone call with some good news. We initially just get a low droning D note from strings while she’s not sure how to process what she just heard. She realizes she’s pleased with it, and then a series of F# and A notes join the D in higher octaves, to give it a happy “major” feel, followed by a chord progression indicative of a major key.

Performances are serviceable. I was surprised at Ruth Negga’s Best Actress Oscar nod for this, as I don’t remember anything big and showy in the portrayal that would warrant a nomination. I think I would have swapped her out for Amy Adams for Arrival. She was enjoyable, though. I liked Joel Edgerton as her husband, and as old as they made him look here, was shocked to learn from IMDB that he is only 42. He has the appeal of a younger Nick Nolte, back before he started playing weird, slimy, twisted characters.

It is not the genre I typically seek out, but Loving is a lovely, uplifting story. I am glad there was a major third.
Grade: B-