Barry Jenkins is a filmmaker that is capable of portraying poetry on-screen in an incredible way. He has lyricism that's evoked in his imagery, and is able to capture a rhythm in this film, both in movement and speech that embodies the era of the early 1970s in Harlem. We hear Fonny and Tish's family's talking in a way that sounds like jazz; unpredictable yet familiar and soothing. The use of Tish as a narrator also serves as the director's use of a narrative, singular voice that represents an entire group of people that are oppressed by society.
Jenkins uses an earthy palette throughout the film that sets the tone for both the 1970s era and the ethereal nature of Jenkins' lyricism. We watch as Fonny and Daniel reunite on Lenox Avenue and the color of the walk ups and the yellow cab all unite the style and tone that Jenkins is seeking as he unites very real ideas, and themes about being black in America set in a time from the past that speaks directly to our present day as the realism created on-screen pulls the audience into the visceral truth in Jenkins' film.
Both here and in his earlier masterwork Moonlight, Jenkins will go down as a one-of-a-kind filmmaker. He's visceral, relevant, real, poetic and directs actors in a way that brings a delicacy of truth to the screen in such an intimate way that there are very few filmmakers to compare him to that are in the mainstream. The hard thing about realism though, it doesn't always end with the main character having a happy ending. But this film ends with two people allowing their love to overcome all things, even the deepest hatred. What was meant for evil won't stop love from overcoming when those who love choose to persevere.
