‘Loving’ is the true story of Richard and Mildred Loving, two people who fall in love, and decide to marry. However there is a glitch—he’s white and she’s black and it’s illegal to marry in the state of Virginia. So they marry in D.C. and go home to Virginia—that’s where their problems begin. Did I mention this takes place only 58 years ago?
This true tale follows the Lovings up through the landmark Supreme Court decision, which changed the laws prohibiting interracial marriage. BTW that decision was handed down in 1967!
Inspired by the documentary The Loving Story made in 2012—the film stars Ruth Negga as Mildred and Joel Edgerton as Richard. (Interestingly both actors are not American. Ms. Negga hails from Ethiopia and Mr. Edgerton is from Australia.) Both are adequate in their roles however their numerous pauses gave me time to gaze at my watch and wonder if I took my clothes out of the dryer.
Stories of injustice should cut like a knife and send you whirling into fits of emotion. The script and the direction (both by Jeff Nichols) were devoid of emotion.
Loving moves like a glacier and Mr. Edgerton squints his way through the film.
See the original documentary it’s on Netflix and it’s a better investment of time.
P.S. I really wanted to love this story, but it flat-lined for me.
Lisa DiGiovine
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.