The Photograph (2020)

Sometimes a film strikes you in a way that you weren't expecting. The Photograph with its fairly predictable romance plot ended up being so much more than just that. For me this was mostly due to Canadian director Stella Meghie's masterful work and the chemistry between Stanfield and Rae who just make you fall in love with them and their love story.

I've only seen hints of Meghie's talent in some of her previous work but here she knocks it out of the park. She finds gorgeous colour in each shot whether it's rainy New York of sun drenched New Orleans or grey London. A photograph is a visual piece of art and Meghie's work here takes full breathtaking advantage of that by making a luscious visual treat along the lines of the work of Alfonso Cuaron or Theodore Witcher or Deepa Mehta. I want to go back and watch more of her work.

She effortlessly shifts her story between the present and the past to intertwine two love stories into something delicious. I kept wanting to fault the film for its hackneyed love story but I coudln't because it sold it so wonderfully. Stanfield and Rae work so well together and what they produce here is sumptuous. I also loved that Meghie didn't fall into relying on sex scenes to make their passion palpable, she skims over that delicately, while focusing on what really works here which is their meeting of the minds.

The Photograph is adult in its approach. No matter how many times the film took a predictable turn I was on board. And I will eager await the chance to see what Meghie does next.

The Photograph
Starring LaKeith Stanfield, Issa Rae, Rob Morgan, Courtney B. Vance, Y'lan Noel, Chante Adams
Writer/Director: Stella Meghie