The Photograph
THE PHOTOGRAPH - Universal
Stella Meghie’s The Photograph is an aesthetically pleasing and visually romantic film that serves as a triumph for representation in storytelling, but it also suffers from a lack of commitment to the multi-faceted love story that unfolds. Every aspect of the film, from the underplayed performances to the derivative dialogue, seems to display a fear of commitment and sincerity that falls directly in line with the emotional journeys of its leads in a way that feels unintentional. Though the film looks and feels lush, smooth, and beautiful, the core romance mostly fails to match the craftsmanship on display.
The film centers around two parallel romances, set in both past and present between generations, that overlap both narratively and thematically. With the death of her mother, Christina Eames (Chante Adams), young art curator Mae Eames (Issa Rae) looks to her troubled past for answers to her many questions and painful memories. When she meets Michael Block (Lakeith Stanfield), a young journalist tasked with profiling her mother postmortem, she slowly develops an impractical romance with him while slowly piecing together her mother’s mysterious romantic past, while attempting to learn from her past mistakes.
Stanfield and Rae are both individually gifted actors whom bring a sweetness to their characters’ brief on-screen love that, at least a few times, approaches natural chemistry and a realistic portrayal of the early stages of dating. Though at times their scenes often feel a little flat and uncommitted, which makes their romance hard to connect to or root for. The script gives these actors very little to work with and barely takes the time to explore their personalities, motivations, and flaws beyond the surface-level. Where the modern romance lacks depth and vivacity the past romance shines as a sorrowful, painful, and tragic love story that clearly defines and develops the two characters through the relationship. Adams turns in a layered and lively performance as the young Christina Eames, she breathes life and depth into the character and makes her yearning for excitement feel palpable, relatable, and relevant. The past romance and the modern romance rarely intersect until the very end, where all the pieces come together nicely and the story the film was trying to tell becomes clearer. Before it reaches that point the film jumps back and forth between these two time periods at random and without much narrative warrant, which gives the film an uneven quality, and a stop-and-start sense of pacing.
The smooth and free-flowing cinematography by Mark Schwartzbard and the beautiful, quiet, and elegant jazz score by pianist and composer Robert Glasper give the film a tasteful audiovisual style that suits this particular rendition of the romance genre which supplements the softer and more introspective sides of the film’s portrayal of love. The sweeping and harmonically rich chords played by the piano thoughtfully convey the thoughts and emotions of the characters and do a lot to elevate the performances of the actors. From an aesthetic perspective, this film looks like a soulful and romanticized take on love and the tragedy that can define entire lives. Unfortunately, the film does not have the substance to support the beautiful aesthetic, and thus falls apart because it invests little time in its modern-day characters and the believability or plausibility of their love. The Photograph is a visually moving but narratively flat romance story that feels like it should be profound in its exploration of love, loss, sacrifice, and learning from the past. It seems genuinely uninterested in its own story and has nothing worthwhile to offer fans of the genre.
THE PHOTOGRAPH is released March 6th 2020
