Title: Loving
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Ruth Negga, Joel Edgerton, Nick Kroll
Runtime: 2 hr 3 mins

What It Is: Richard (Edgerton) and Mildred (Negga) Loving love one and other and decide to get married. This is a humongous problem since in the state of Virginia (in which they live) inter-racial marriage is actually not only frowned upon but illegal. When they are arrested for being married illegally they move to D.C. where their marriage is not illegal. Meanwhile, the ACLU helps the Lovings with a suit against the state of Virginia’s discriminatory law. TIME magazine as well profiles the couple leading to their case gaining a larger profile and possibly changing the law.

What We Think: There are some great performances here. Our two leads, in particular, are absolutely brilliant. Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton are simply excellent. It would be no surprise to see either or both of them receive some love from the Academy. Narratively I think Nichols is just fantastic this along with the stellar Midnight Special show he’s a modern auteur of cinema. Humanizing and to its point, Loving pulls no punches and shows that true love is without prejudice, it is without color and rings true in spite of everything.

Our Grade: B+, If not for subtle issues with pacing this film right here hit most of the right notes. It didn’t tug me emotionally enough in the way I wanted and suspected a film like this would. That’s no knock on the performances but I think where it lagged was story telling. We move too fast through the story. That doesn’t allow us to soak in the gravity of any particular situation. I recommend everyone see this film. It’s an important film with themes that sadly still permeate 40 years later. If you get a chance check it out!