Director Jeff Nichols has shown amazing versatility in his career thus far. “Shotgun Stories” with Michael Shannon was a micro indie, “Take Shelter” was a psychological thriller with apocalyptic notions, his first big-budgeted movie, “Mud” was “Stand By Me”-ish and “Midnight Special” was a John Carpenter-esque thriller and chase film about a boy with superhuman powers.
But Nichols can also do restrained, intimate and delicate, as evinced by reviews from Cannes (including ours) about his new Focus Features movie, “Loving.” Critically acclaimed at the festival and set for Oscar-season contention, “Loving” celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving (Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga), whose civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court. Here’s the official synopsis:
The couple had grown up in Central Point, a small town in Virginia that was more integrated than surrounding areas in the American South. Yet it was the state of Virginia, where they were making their home and starting a family, that first jailed and then banished them. Richard and Mildred relocated with their children to the inner city of Washington, D.C. While relatives made them feel welcome there, the more urban environment did not feel like home to them. Ultimately, the pull of their roots in Virginia would spur Mildred to try to find a way back. 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. Richard and Mildred returned home and their love story has become an inspiration to couples ever since.
A historical drama about civil rights, but also just the meaning of love itself and its color blindness in the face of prejudice, with the #OscarSoWhite narrative so prevalent this year, “Loving” is arriving at the exact right moment. “Loving” co-stars Michael Shannon, Marton Csokas and Nick Kroll and opens in limited release on November 4th. Watch the first trailer below and let us know what you think.
