Review: 'Loving' Depicts An Incredible Love Story Incompletely

Scott Carney ’18 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Loving begins with a situation most long term couples face throughout the course of their relationship: Mildred (Ruth Negga) tells her lover Richard (Joel Edgerton) that she is pregnant with their first child. From there, Richard proposes to her and buys a piece of land for them to build a house on. They then elope in Washington DC and prepare for their new life together. However, there is a complication with this arrangement: Richard is white, Mildred is black, and they live in Virginia in 1958 where the state has outlawed interracial marriage. Richard and Edith are arrested and forced to leave the state, but after Edith decides she wants to raise her children back in Virginia, the two decide to fight back against the law, leading to the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized interracial marriage in all fifty states.
In a country where racism is still unfortunately large as well as one that only recently legalized same sex marriage, Loving feels like a very timely story despite depicting a topic that seems like it is part of a faraway past. Director Jeff Nichols, who previously depicted the South with a Twain-esque childlike perspective in Mud, presents a more full on realistic picture in Loving. The film doesn’t shy away from what Richard and Mildred had to go through, whether it is cops breaking into their home in the middle of the night or Richard getting followed home by an unknown truck driver. Despite these tense moments, the film prides itself in joyful ones as well, such as Richard and Edith laughing with her family at the dinner table or Richard’s mom helping Edith deliver their baby.

Nichols is clearly someone who knows how to direct actors, as both Edgerton and Negga give terrific performances. Edgerton is great at depicting the love Richard has for his family despite expressing little to no emotion, and Negga compliments him well, portraying a woman who begins the film slightly reserved but becomes more open and confident as her hope for their victory grows. The supporting cast is great as well, especially Nick Kroll as Richard and Edith’s attorney Bernie Cohen who, despite his inexperience, is empathetic and eager to help them. These are traits we rarely see in characters portrayed by Kroll and he does a convincing job in the role, fully leaving behind his somewhat frat boy persona.
If there is a major problem with the movie, it’s that despite Edgerton and Negga’s performances, there isn’t really much to Richard and Edith’s romance. They always talk about how much they love each other and perform romantic gestures but this is a very basic understanding of love that the movie never goes beyond. It seems that Nichols was honest in portraying how these events occurred but he focuses a little too much on simply hitting the beats of the story rather than getting inside the characters’ heads.

As a result, Richard and Edith both come across as a little bit one note, with the movie never really depicting why they love each other, they just simply do because that is the motivation that is keeping the plot going. The story of the Lovings is a very important one of historical significance that deserves to be told on film. However, this film could have spent a little more time explaining why the relationship was worth fighting for.
Overall Grade: B
Watch The Trailer: 
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33g-ZHBQdNU[/embedyt]