Richard Loving a construction worker in Virginia, falls in love with a local resident Mildred, a colored person. When they learn they are expecting a child, they get married in Washington where interracial marriage is legal but get arrested when they start living together in Virginia. Faced with a jail term if they don’t leave the state for 25 years, they move to Washington. A growing dissent within Mildred against the exile makes her contact the ACLU – a move that could alter their lives forever.
Language:
English
Running Time:
123 min
Rating:
PG-13 (MPAA)
Release date:
16 May 2016
Directed by:
Jeff Nichols
Produced by:
Nancy Buirski
Ged Doherty
Colin Firth
Sarah Green
Peter Saraf
Marc Turtletaub
Written by:
Jeff Nichols
Starring:
Ruth Negga
Joel Edgerton
Will Dalton
Terri Abney
Alano Miller
Chris Greene
Music by:
David Wingo
Shot by:
Adam Stone
Editing by:
Julie Monroe
Distributed by:
Entertainment One
Focus Features
Mars Distribution
Universal Pictures International

What’s Hot

  • Ruth Negga’s portrayal of Mildred Loving is a work of art in all senses. She rarely speaks out with an array of long sentences, but still grips the scene together with her varied looks within a scene to showcase the innate character traits. Her bonding with her family and husband Joel Edgerton is special.
  • Joel Edgerton’s placid looks and the disinterested demeanour with limited verbal exchanges is in stark contrast to the deep sense of real feelings that emanate when he emotes his love for his wife – an extraordinary effort on his part to uphold both these aspects of the character!
  • Jeff Nichols makes it his mission to keep this movie as a personal account of the Lovings couple despite the historical significance engulfing the premise and stays true to it till the end. The resolve to resist the temptation into becoming another ‘civil rights movement’ propaganda film is a nice touch.
  • Part of the director’s vision to keep a potentially sensational story contained within the personal space of the plaintiffs has been largely possible because of the intelligent screenplay. Being a true life story, the events that involve the couple and their immediate surroundings is rightly given prominence in the narrative over the court proceedings.

What’s Not

  • The measured tone imparted to the movie works to stamp the authenticity, but struggles to sustain the viewer interest for its entirety. The experience subsequently fails to peak at the climax and ends in the same restrained manner, missing out to create a lasting impact.

Badges

Acting
Direction
Screenplay

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

Any film set in the 1960s featuring a colored person fighting the judiciary would scream “civil rights movement”, but ‘Loving’ is not any ordinary film for it is a brilliantly enacted personal account of an interracial couple that shows a lot of admirable restraint and remains resolute!