Till – 7

This was three things: a history lesson, a collection of fine roles for Black actors, and a bravura performance by Danielle Deadwyler as Emmett Till’s mother. The challenge was creating interest in a story that is already familiar–and not a pretty story, at that. For me, it explained why the case of Emmett Till, among all the anti-Black atrocities in the South, resonated so loud and long. Deadwyler deserves an Oscar nod for all her emotional nuance, even if it went on a bit long. The movie’s weak spot was its characterization of Emmett (“Bobo”) as a clueless and fairly unsympathetic Momma’s boy, not that he deserved his fate. Ultimately, good or bad, you felt you were in history class more than the movies, and left to wonder: as this is the version that will live in the public’s imagination, how true is it?