IF BEALE STREET COULD SPEAK
SYNOPSIS AND DETAILS
Harlem, in the 70s. Tish and Fonny have always loved each other and are planning to get married. As they prepare to have a child, the young man, victim of a miscarriage of justice, is arrested and incarcerated. With the help of his family, Tish engages in a fierce fight to prove Fonny's innocence and release him ...
Adaptation
If Beale Street could speak is adapted from the novel of James Baldwin , to which the film is dedicated. This is Barry Jenkins' favorite author : "These books helped me better understand what masculinity was, and what black masculinity was." I did not have a revelation with one of his words in particular, but rather because of the way he spoke and the quality of the research he was doing when he was interested in a subject. and invaluable James Baldwin is an important author because he spoke the truth. "
Published in 1974, the book has already given rise to a free film adaptation entitled À la place du coeur by Robert Guédiguian in 1998. The director of Moonlight discovers Si Beale Street could speak in 2009-2010 and decides in 2013 to draw a script. He moved to Europe to do it, specifically in Berlin, after being in Brussels for the writing of Moonlight.
Published in 1974, the book has already given rise to a free film adaptation entitled À la place du coeur by Robert Guédiguian in 1998. The director of Moonlight discovers Si Beale Street could speak in 2009-2010 and decides in 2013 to draw a script. He moved to Europe to do it, specifically in Berlin, after being in Brussels for the writing of Moonlight.
Harlem
For the team, it was unthinkable not to shoot in Harlem. It was a tribute to both the city and the text of James Baldwin . Part of the filming took place at St. Nicolas Avenue, which Barry Jenkins knows well for having lived in the corner on 145th Street for a long time. The chief designer Mark Friedberg has found a brownstone type of building emptied because in full renovation. This is where the apartment was built.
Photographic influence
Clichés of photographers such as Gordon Parks, Jack Garofalo and Paul Fusco helped restore the mood of the city's neighborhoods in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Photographs of "Tombs" (New York prisons) ) 1973-74 by Bruce Davidson also proved invaluable.
For light, Barry Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton looked at Roy DeCarava's work: "We wanted to translate Baldwin's language and Harlem's clean energy into visual writing and photography."
For light, Barry Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton looked at Roy DeCarava's work: "We wanted to translate Baldwin's language and Harlem's clean energy into visual writing and photography."
Attention to the sound
Sound is very important to Barry Jenkins who was a student of sound engineer Richard Portman during his film studies. The latter is known to have developed with Robert Altmanthe "multitrack" device. Jenkins remembers: "He started his course by telling us that a movie, it was 50% of images and 50% of his, and not 95% of images and 5% of sound as we often think ".
The director details the work done by Onnalee Blank , the sound editing supervisor, and Mathew Waters , the sound re-recording mixer:"The dialogues come from the front of the room, but we created what we called 'the voice of God.'" Tish's voice-over - which in this story embodies Baldwin's point of view - is inside, but it envelops, as it were, the viewer.As emotions, very strong, overwhelm, we approached the sound material in the same way.So, we have a feeling of intimacy, which does not want to say that the sounds must be minimalist ".
The director details the work done by Onnalee Blank , the sound editing supervisor, and Mathew Waters , the sound re-recording mixer:"The dialogues come from the front of the room, but we created what we called 'the voice of God.'" Tish's voice-over - which in this story embodies Baldwin's point of view - is inside, but it envelops, as it were, the viewer.As emotions, very strong, overwhelm, we approached the sound material in the same way.So, we have a feeling of intimacy, which does not want to say that the sounds must be minimalist ".