Joel Egerton and Ruth Negga as Richard and Mildred Loving
“LOVING” My rating: A
123 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13
This latest film from Jeff Nichols, the poet laureate of rural Southern life (“Shotgun Stories,” “Take Shelter,” “Mud”), is a lightly fictionalized depiction on the lives of Richard and Mildred Loving, who in 1959 were convicted of violating Virginia’s anti-miscegenation laws.
Eventually their case led to a Supreme Court decision that dismantled legislation banning mixed-race marriages.
“Loving” works so well as much because what the film isn’t as for what it is.
Writer/director Nichols eschews courtroom maneuvering and big speeches about civil rights. “Loving” is almost exclusively told from the vantage of the Lovings, two unremarkable individuals in extraordinary circumstances.
The film may be about big issues, but it is a spectacularly intimate experience.
Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter (he’s white, she’s black and Native American) grew up in a corner of Virginia where different races were united by limited educational and economic opportunities.
Richard (Joel Edgerton) is a crew-cut bricklayer who spends his weekends backroad drag racing with his African American brother-in-law.
Mildred (Ruth Negga) is an expectant mother radiating quiet grace and dignity.
They know Virginia law bans mixed-race unions, which is why they drive to nearby Washington D.C. to be married. But, really, who in their bucolic backwater cares?
That complacency is rudely shattered one night when police officers storm into their rural home, drag them from their bed and lock them up in the county jail.
Richard — shy and unassertive — is shamed by the sheriff (Marton Csokas) for betraying his race and violating God’s law: “He made a sparrow a sparrow and a robin a robin. They’re different for a reason.”
Richard can only hang his head and take the abuse. He hasn’t the intellect or the words to defend his love. (more…)
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