If Beale Street Could Talk is a 1974 novel by American writer James Baldwin. “Being in trouble can have a funny effect on the mind. There is infrequent very strong language ('c**t') as well as strong language ('f**k'). I don't know if I can explain this. So much of the enduring appeal of Baldwin’s writing is in his elegant, dissecting prose. Cast & … If Beale Street Could Talk study guide contains a biography of James Baldwin, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a … If Beale Street Could Talk Introduction + Context. Get all the key plot points of James Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk on one page. This isn’t a happy film but it isn’t a hopeless one, either. Both Jenkins and author Baldwin don’t pull any punches when it comes to the atrocities of the US legal system, but overall If Beale Street Could Talk is a twee and pretty portal of love in 1970’s Brooklyn that just happens to be telling a story about police corruption and racial prejudice. From the creators of SparkNotes. “If Beale Street Could Talk” ’s couple, Fonny (Stephan James) and Tish (KiKi Layne), are gorgeous in an abstracted, mythological sense, as if they were the first man and woman on earth. Stephan James and KiKi Layne in ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ (Annapurna Pictures) It’s refreshing that the film doesn’t become caught up in the legal drama around Fonny’s case. If Beale Street Could Talk stars Stephan James, Regina King, KiKi Layne, and more discuss what it was like to collaborate with director Barry Jenkins and why they were so eager to join the project. Sex Study Guide for If Beale Street Could Talk. If Beale Street Could Talk 2018 16+ 1h 59m Critically Acclaimed Films Harlem of the ‘70s comes alive in this story of pregnant Tish and her crusade to free her fiancé, Fonny, who’s in prison for a crime he didn’t … Plot Summary. This isn’t a happy film but it isn’t a hopeless one, either. Barry Jenkins again triumphs in truly showing, not simply telling, that blackness is beautiful and that black lives do matter. Based on the novel by James Baldwin, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, is the story of Tish, a newly engaged Harlem woman who races against the clock to prove her lover's innocence while carrying their first born child to term. There is also self-directed use of the terms 'nigger' and 'negro'. Beale Street Cast Share Their Love for Barry Jenkins Baldwin seamlessly weaves multiple topical issues like racism, police brutality, prison injustice, young love, financial struggle, class disparity, and many more between the pages of this book. If Beale Street Could Talk study guide contains a biography of James Baldwin, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a … “If Beale Street Could Talk” leaves the viewer with feelings of anger at the fate society forces Fonny to accept, but it also conjures up some optimism for his and Tish’s future. One of the first rules of screenwriting is, “Show, don’t tell.” However, when you’re adapting author James Baldwin’s marvelous novel If Beale Street Could Talk for the screen, an exception has to be made.