Till Review : An Excellent Biographic Drama
The movie Till was always going to be difficult to make and more harder to watch. Till tells a stirring tale with grace and humanity, under the direction of Chinonye Chukwu, from a screenplay she co-wrote with Michael Reilly and Keith Beauchamp. By focusing on his mother and civil rights activist Mamie Till-Mobley, Chukwu takes a different approach in this biographical drama, choosing to avoid showing the murder of Emmett Till himself, which occurs not long into the film's runtime. For the most part, it pays off, with Danielle Deadwyler giving a performance to watch out for.
Emmett Till (Jalyn Hall), then 14 years old and from Chicago, is getting ready to travel to Mississippi to see his great uncle (John Douglas Thompson) and relatives. His mother, Mamie (Deadwyler), cautions him that it is hazardous for Black people down south and that Emmett should be careful. He had never gone there before, and his excitement is apparent. A white employee at the grocery shop Emmett and his family visit, Carolyn Bryant (Haley Bennett), accuses him of insulting her days into his vacation. Emmett is taken hostage by Carolyn's husband and his half-brother, who also shoot him and toss him over the Tallahatchie River after torturing him.
Till ultimately succeeds in its goal of sensitively shedding light on a challenging situation. Chukwu's film is frequently difficult to watch, but it's gut-wrenching, dramatic, and worth seeing, led by a wonderful performance from Deadwyler that is sure to move many to tears. However, it could have gone deeper in terms of Mamie's development without diminishing her role as mother.