The Photograph

This time every year Hollywood releases a number of Valentine's Day themed films to woo those couples into the multiplex, so as to profit on yet another holiday. In recent years, they typically lean toward the comedy genre, however "The Photograph" is in the offing as a romantic drama. 

When famed photographer Christina Eames (Chante Adams) dies, she leaves her estranged daughter, Mae Morton (Issa Rae) hurt, angry and full of questions. When a rare photograph of Christina tucked away in a safe deposit box is found, Mae finds herself on a journey delving into her mother's life and ignites a powerful unexpected romance with a rising journalist, Michael Block (LaKeith Stanfield). 
Michael receives a job at the newspaper he works at from his editor, Sara (Chelsea Peretti) to travel from New York to Louisiana to speak with a man, Isaac Jefferies (Rob Morgan), who had a early relationship with Christina to find out more about her. Through their discussion, he had mentioned to Michael that she had a daughter whom subsequently Michael happened to inadvertently came to meet in New York. From there, their relationship starts to blossom. As this story unfolds, it goes from present to the past and back in order to tell this story. 

Others to round out the cast are Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Andy, an intern at the paper, Jasmine Cephas Jones as Rachel, a friend of Mae's, Courtney B. Vance as Louis, Y'lan Noel as young Isaac, Lil Rel Howery as Kyle, brother of Michael's and Marsha Stephanie Blake as Violet, Kyle's wife. 

This was poignantly and compassionately directed by Stella Meghie ("Jean of the Joneses" '16, "Everything, Everything" '17, "The Weekend" '18) plus TV and a short. Although the ensemble cast was effective as well as pivotal, clearly the chemistry between Michael and Mae was seamless. From the moment they met, the courting was as real as it comes, and this is the mark of a talented director. If you like her style, her "American Princess" is in pre-production. It was also effectively written by Meghie ("Jean of the Joneses" '16, "The Weekend" '18) plus TV and a short. While Meghie certainly can write a screenplay that is accurate and somewhat effective, this film doesn't really leave its audience thinking about this story very much by credits end. The connection between the different characters was interestingly written, however, by the end, it's not a memorable film. As mentioned prior, the best thing about this is the chemistry between Michael and Mae. It simply gave us an extremely realistic view of a young couple meeting and, through some difficult situations, are able to work things out, even though Mae is extremely practical and Michael will and can solve a situation by turning 'lemons into lemonade'. 

Will this go down into the annals of classic Valentine's Day films? Probably not, however this is certainly a crowd pleaser mostly due to the connection between these two young lovers. And isn't this what Valentine's Day is all about?

Out of 4 stars: 3                                     Rated: PG-13                                                111mins.