Review by George Kozera for Mr. Will Wong
Based on the true story of Mamie Till-Mobleyâs tireless and passionate journey to seek justice after her 14-year-old son Emmett was brutally lynched after visiting relatives in Mississippi in 1955, TILL is one of the yearâs most evocative and emotionally-investing films. We first meet Mamie (Danielle Deadwyler) and Emmett, nicknamed Bo (Jalyn Hall) singing along to a song on the car radio as they go to an upscale department store in Chicago to buy a wallet that Emmett can bring with him to his upcoming vacation in Mississippi. Despite the reputation that the ânorthâ was a safer place to live for those of colour, the Systemic Racism is impossible to ignore. Thus makes Mamie even more apprehensive about her sonâs trip, which came to being at Emmettâs grandmother (Whoopi Goldberg) insistence that he go down south to meet his family and discover his roots. Emmett is a vivacious teenager with an easy, vibrant smile and dismisses the dire warnings and potential consequences from his mother before he leaves. After entertaining his newfound-family working in a cotton field, Emmett and his cousins loiter around a convenience store where he innocently chats with the white clerk (an unrecognizable Haley Bennett) and when he wolf-whistles at her when leaving the store, she reacts with retrieving a gun. A few nights later, Emmett is kidnapped and found dead in a river. With assistance from the NAACP and local newspapers, Mamieâs resilience and determination takes her to the court trial in Mississippi to seek personal and social justice.
Co-Writer and Director, Chinonye Chukwu (Clemency) inherent brilliance behind the camera is illustrated with her fluent use of the wide-screen format with perfect tone, colour palettes and devasting close-ups. The attention to details, from the period pieces in the background, to the clothes and jewelry worn and the background Score are glorious. She also wisely chose not to show the brutality of the actual lynching, making a subsequent scene in the funeral home even more shocking and poignant. That said, Chukwuâs strength is in the performances she gets from all her Actors in TILL; they are astonishing. Goldberg reminds us that her acting chops still are formidable in just a handful of scenes as does Frankie Faison (currently on TV in âThe Rookies: Fedsâ). Hallâs exuberance, mingled with the typical 14-year-old boyâs bravado and assurance, is compelling to watch, making his tragic death even more heartbreaking.
Then there is Danielle Deadwyler, an Actress whose previous work I was unfamiliar with prior to watching TILL. What she gives the audience, for lack of a better word, is surreal and how she perfectly achieves many challenging emotionally charged characteristics is truly masterclass. Her strength through all her ordeals after the murder of her only son are herculean. Her grief is palpable. In a long take as Mamie testifies at the murder trial while the camera never leaves her face left me breathless and I virtually had to stop myself from standing up and applauding. It is a scene, one of so many, where Deadwyler achieves perfection.
TILL is a remarkable achievement which will leave you shattered, then hopeful of what can be accomplished with fortitude and determination. It will be etched in me for quite some time.
Universal Pictures Canada release TILL Friday, October 21, 2022.
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