Monday Movie Review: The Photograph
I treated myself to a nice Galentine’s Day present and went to see The Photograph last week on its opening night. I have said it before and I will say it again, I will always support movies written and directed by women (this one is written and directed by Stella Meghie), whether I’m interested in the premise or not (see last week’s review of Birds of Prey, which turned out to be fabulous). Luckily, I’ve been dying to see this one see I first saw the trailer.
The story weaves together a tale of two couples, Mae (Issa Rae) and Michael (Lakeith Stanfield) and that of Mae’s parents, Christina (Chante Adams) and Isaac (Y’lan Noel and Rob Morgan). Mae and Michael meet when he is putting together an article about Christina, who was a photographer. Mae is struggling with her mother’s death, and also struggling with realizing she might be more like her mother than she originally thought, especially when it comes to love. Christina was always scared of taking a risk for love, and it turns out Mae is having similar problems. She finds lots of excuses not to be with Michael, despite their very instant and powerful connection. I won’t give it all away, though I will go ahead and ease your minds and let you know this one has a happy ending.
So I really liked this movie. But I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to, or as much as I thought I would based on the previews. It had this weird balance of feeling slow, yet underdeveloping the main love story. I wanted more from Mae and Michael’s relationship. By the time we got to the grand gesture at the end, the two had only spent four or five dates together. And yeah, insta-love can be a thing, but I didn’t really feel it here. I wanted to spend more time with them watching their relationship grow. That being said, I thought the love story between Isaac and Christina was heart-breakingly perfect. And I loved how the issues with Mae and her mother were handled. Overall, the movie looked gorgeous, the performances were great, I just wanted more from that central love story, and I wanted the pace to speed up just a tad. I wanted this one to be perfect, and it fell just a bit short, but it was still most definitely a worthwhile watch.
Overall Grade: B
