As I discussed earlier this year when Midnight Special came out, the writer-director Jeff Nichols has a bit of an issue with fathers in his movies, and that goes as much for his lovely debut, Shotgun Stories, as it does with Midnight Special. This hang-up would be easier to come to terms with if it didn't mean that his female characters are often pushed to the sidelines to put more focus on fathers and sons, but that doesn't seem to be the case with his upcoming civil-rights drama, Loving, which you can check out the trailer for right below.
Instead, Loving looks to be an evocative slice of period drama, centered on the real-life secretive interracial marriage between Mr. and Mrs. Loving, played by the equally sensational Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga, who eventually took the case for their marriage to the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia in 1967. Nichols has a way with catching the beauty and the vast placidity of the American South, and you can see that in ample evidence throughout the trailer. And though the story begs for sentimentality, and the film's November release suggests a brooding Oscar campaign, Loving looks enticingly restrained in its self-righteousness, more focused on small details of life in Virginia and a lasting marriage. We shall see how all of this unfurls when the film hits theaters on November 2nd, but there's a lot of promise to be gleaned here.
Here's the trailer for Loving:
Here's the plot synopsis for Loving:
From acclaimed writer/director Jeff Nichols, Loving celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving (portrayed by Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga), who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their hometown. Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of the right to marry – and their love story has become an inspiration to couples ever since.
And here's the official poster for the film:
