I love getting that sort of broad but focused idea.

Giorgis: What’s your process with Jenkins like? How do you two first start thinking about the role a score will play in the film you’re working on?īritell: On Beale Street, one of the first things Jenkins said to me was-and this was before he shot the movie, I’d read the book, read the script-he said that he was hearing brass, he was hearing horns, and that was the first intuitive idea of a feeling. I think we both felt that there was this real connection of how we were both thinking about things. met up for coffee in downtown L.A., and we ended up having this multi-hour conversation over some glasses of wine. I said to Kleiner, “Is there any way I could maybe … meet Jenkins one day or anything?” And Kleiner connected the two of us. The script was so profoundly beautiful in an almost inexplicable way. And I remember saying to him, “Could I read that? That sounds amazing.” When I read it, I immediately knew what he was talking about. Nicholas Britell: One day, were having dinner, and he got very emotional while talking about this beautiful script called Moonlight. Hannah Giorgis: How did you and Jenkins first meet? This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Tish and Fonny’s love crests on sweet notes their struggles reverberate with jarring rumbles.Īhead of Beale Street’s release, The Atlantic spoke with the film’s composer, Nicholas Britell, about collaborating with Jenkins, channeling the sound of 1970s Harlem, and capturing “the musical analogue” of joy.

The meticulously crafted musical backing ties the movie’s emotional milestones together with a deft, empathetic touch. Among Beale Street’s most resonant elements is its evocative score. The film, which opened in limited release December 14, presents a multifaceted vision of the world Baldwin inhabited and the legacy he created. Like Baldwin’s original text, the movie is alternately joyous and mournful. Tish and Fonny revel in the euphoria of their union, but their bliss is always haunted. The Barry Jenkins–directed adaptation of James Baldwin’s 1974 novel follows Tish (played by KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James), a young black couple who must reorient their relationship after Fonny is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. It envelops viewers in the dynamic love its characters have for one another, and that its creators have for their work. If Beale Street Could Talk is a lush, immersive film.

James baldwin if beale street