See For Yourselves
As Chinonye Chukwu’s arresting historical drama Till reaches cinemas this week, Storyboard Editor Ella Kemp puts together a perfect watchlist to keep the conversation going.
The story of Till is the story of Mamie Till, the educator, activist and mother of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old boy who was murdered in 1955. It is a story of grief, love, resilience and above all else, the story of family.
It’s based on true events, but also boasts a singular directorial vision courtesy of filmmaker Chinonye Chukwu behind the camera, and Danielle Deadwyler in the role of Mamie. It’s a film that demands a conversation once you leave the cinema – to wrestle with the truth and build a better future. Here are five films to help you do just that.
Clemency
Before Till, there was Clemency. Chukwu’s second feature as writer-director, the 2019 drama won her the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival (making Chukwu the first Black woman to win the award).
Much of Till shows signs of Clemency: in the way it spotlights Black women with unflinching honesty, care and patience, relying on nothing else in the frame to really make you feel why this matters. Alfre Woodward delivers the performance of a lifetime as Warden Bernadine Williams, a prison officer facing a dilemma as a prisoner maintains his innocence until the very day of his execution.
Selma
The importance of peaceful protesting can’t be overstated – nor can the power of a lucid, humane, straightforward retelling of one of the most vital movements in history. Ava DuVernay is behind the camera to, like Chukwu, retell a key event in history with great care as she reframes the Selma to Montgomery protest marches in 1965.
The list of brilliant performances is long: David Oyelowo, André Hollandm Colman Domingo, Niecy Nash, Wendell Pierce, Tessa Thompson, LaKeith Stanfield and so many more. One to rewatch on the big screen – and to have an Oscars do-over for – as soon as possible.
If Beale Street Could Talk
Till would be nothing without its loving understand of the lengths a mother will go to. It’s a similar priority given to Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, a James Baldwin adaptation dealing with a different kind of racial injustice but which won Regina King an Oscar for her role as Sharon Rivers, a mother hellbent on finding justice for her family.
Jenkins’ film also has a similar focus on light – both Till and Beale Street are simply beautiful to look at, which can often be neglected in heavy stories about endless pain and hardship. The lens is soft, the colours warm, every frame leaving room for hope to seep in. Many could learn from it.
The Harder They Fall
Before Mamie, Deadwyler’s first blockbuster role was in Jeymes Samuel’s subversive Western The Harder They Fall as fast-shootin’ Cuffee. The character is effervescent, toying with gender presentation and grappling with their past as a soldier after being born into slavery in 1842.
The film is impossibly alive, stylish, slick and fun – but there is still a throughline in Deadwyler’s work from this to Till: you don’t survive in either of these worlds without the determination and chutzpah to keep you alive and kicking until the bitter end.
Saint Omer
The centrepiece of Till is a breathtaking one-shot of Mamie as she is cross-examined in the courthouse, seeking justice for the murder of her son who was innocent. The camera stays on Deadwyler, her eyes rolling back, her lip quivering but her posture remaining steadfast. It’s completely shattering.
For a similar style, Alice Diop’s forthcoming courtroom drama Saint Omer should fill the void. The film spends the vast majority of the runtime on Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanga), a Senegalese woman on trial for murdering her 15-month-old child. There is a similar difficult reckoning with just how much strength it takes to be a mother, comparable framing that dares to just be still. It demands to be seen on the big screen.
Till is in cinemas from January 6 across the UK.
