An advice to filmmakers who decide to put a writer in his film: whether the said author is a journalist or Essayist or critic – all types of writers who work in what we call Media – We will have questions.
For example, in the Sundance premiere “Love, Brooklyn,” André Holland plays such a writer The name Roger. Roger is apparently assigned to write an article about Brooklyn’s developing nature. This paragraph is widely discussed in the whole filmAnd yet I still want answers. What kind of publication was it for? (Magazine? Newspaper? Literary magazine? I don’t know!) Why is his deadline ever flexible? Why does his editor have him over to discuss it with sparkling wine instead of calling him on the phone? Or, more realistic, send him a strongly formulated e -post? Does he work with something else? Where does his income come from? Why is he not more stressed about getting paid?
These all seem like smaller disputes, but they reveal the bigger question in the heart of director Rachael Abigail Holder’s Romance written by Paul Zimmerman. The title – “Love, Brooklyn” – is fantastic vague, yes? Well, so is the most of the rest of the film, which maps the relationships between three beautiful Brooklynites played by the Netherlands, Nicole Beharie and Dewanda Wise. Rom-Com is produced by Steven Soderbergh, whose presence feels when the Netherlands character pulls out a bottle of the director’s Singani spirit to sip.
Each of these actors works hard to get dimension to their characters like Zimmerman’s script otherwise does not give them. If this movie is supposed to be a tribute to the district with the title, it is a striking anodyne that loses its places in Fort Greene and its surrounding districts of personality. This is a shocking empty depiction of Brooklyn, shot as if the characters live in a postcard where street traffic is minimal and every day is completely warm. (Given the perfect weather conditions, it is then shocking to see the basics of Prospect Park around the picnic house – usually mirror with people – basically abandoned.)
We first meet Roger when he has dinner with Casey (Bererie), a gallerist who we soon understand is his ex. He complains about his mission – how he wanted to write about Brooklyn develop but he thinks it is ofVolving and gestures to order another bottle of wine. She rejects and quotes an early morning. So instead he ends up at Brownstone of Nicole (wise), a single mother who is studying to be a massage therapist. They have sex, but she emphatically tells me that she is not his girlfriend. Nicole has a young daughter Ally (Cadence Reese), who enters the room at unmatched moments, and a man who died in “an accident.” We no longer learn about the circumstances of this death.
The rest of the film tries to explore the contours of this triangle. Although they declined that the first bottle of wine, Casey and Roger have a simple chemistry clear when they become drunk and high at an art museum and play action with each other as children in the park. While Casey and Roger seem to revive their romance, he also switches to Nicole for late nighttrys where she opens up to him. She and her daughter follow him to a friend’s party; Later, she encourages him to pick up allied from school and take her to the playground. Although Nicole does not want to get involved in labels, she is very comfortable letting Roger come close to her child with little fear of how it can affect the child’s fragile psyche. However, this is not really a problem for the movie.
Instead, Holder is more interested in romantic images of Holland cycling around tree -lined streets, and the question of which of these women he will end up with. Holder does a little to show us why Roger and Casey actually broke up in the first place. Behlari is particularly lively in the thin part, and her version of Casey is a strange inclined to make funny voices. On the page, however, her frustrations are with work. She runs a gallery that developer on her block wants to take over (what happens to that space is one of the most annoying revelations in the film).
Wisely, on the other hand, is sensual and loving, but she is also hammered by the material. At one point, she is asked to express grief that comes out of nowhere. A tear falls on her cheek, but there is no structure at the moment. However, it is Holland that has the most difficult role. Roger is supposed to be attractive, but something of a personal mess, and yet he smokes mostly weeds and acts charming. Holland does it latter particularly well, which goes a long way.
And yet, all actors must plow through dialogue that is bracingly unnatural. For example, Roger’s married friend, played by Roy Wood Jr., explains from nowhere, “Is there anything better than breasts?” It’s a line that sounds like a parody of a horny guy.
But perhaps most aggravating is how “Love, Brooklyn” treats Brooklyn. For a movie that is seemingly indebted to a place, it is a tourist. Each character’s home is perfectly designed. Each bar is empty. When Casey needs a cabin to go home, a yellow one miraculously pulls up without having to hail it even though you would be hard pressed to find something other than a green taxi in the district and even it is rare.
In the end, the holder claims that – despite gentrification – this place is still magical, except that we never see any of the magic she talks about. We see a fantasy country, but it is not the same as the real magic that the city can offer.
Rating: c
“Love, Brooklyn” premiered at 2025 Sundance Film festival. It is currently seeking US distribution.
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