Rent Loving (2016)

Superb well-written drama - Loving review by PC

This covers a story most people won't be aware of and gives it a personal feel without the need to grandstand any of the points. It is a personal drama about two people who love each other and want to be left alone to do so, even from those who want to change the law that prevents them being together. The performances are superb, especially from Ruth Negga who has the more showy role. If you do enjoy this then try and watch Jeff Nichols' other films which are just as good.

The Crime of Being Married - Loving review by AW

***MAY BE SPOILERS***

I saw this film once before when it came out, I think I enjoyed it but couldn't remember much except it was a true story, felt the urge to revisit it altho' now I'm ambivalent about it. Sometimes the directors commentary helps or doesn't. This time after listening I felt deflated and that the film lacked both punch and verve.

Firstly it's strange to think there really was a Racial Integrity Act and that up to the 60s interracial marriages were illegal in certain US states but again one has to remember that the state known as the Commonwealth of Virginia is technically in The South and that Caroline County is only just an hour south of DC, midway between Washington and Richmond.

Secondly, for a true story it does hold fairly well to the truth, even to the similar looks of the characters.

The title works twofold - to their surname and situation. Curious too that of the the main couple neither is American - Joel Edgerton (playing Richard) is Australian and Ruth Negga (playing Mildred) is Ethiopian-Irish!

One of the producers (* interestingly Colin Firth also got on the bandwagon) said something in commentary about development of the characters, but somehow in this rather plodding script that aspect, to my mind, seemed to have been missed out. I didn't really get any sense of the characters' real feelings or motivations; couldn't decide if they were particularly surpressed; there was no reaction to the slurs or reverse discrimination. The dialogue is lean and after a while I felt that Richard's taciturn and monosyllabic manner might be suggesting he was a few sandwiches short of

a picnic. Mildred seemed (as one or two other reviewers suggested) awfully doe eyed (or perhaps a deer in the headlights?) but she might have been a bit brighter than her husband as later she seemed to blossom a bit, becoming more aware and speaking up, even though she's seemingly settled placidly into motherhood and housework without much complaint. As she clearly wasn't working I was glad Richard was providing well for his family in their enforced and hated exile in DC. In their hearts they were simple country folk, uncomfortable with the publicity and just wanted to be left alone to get on with their lives, largely unaware of the momentous changes the 60s civil rights movement and their own situation were about to make.

Time passes vaguely in this film too, 10 years go by and he's only just been able to start putting down the cinder blocks for the house he planned for her and the baby right at the beginning. Rather poignantly he didn't get many years living in it. Won't spoil it for others. It's explained at the end.

You won't be Loving this - Loving review by BS

Two stars are awarded for the cinematography and authentic backdrops, props and costumes, not to mention dialogue. Might work better as a novel (was it a based on a book?), but it's a slow and predictable tale of a certain time and place where - guess what? People used to be a bit racist. It's very slow, and might have been a great film if it was released 40 - 50 years ago.