This Valentine's Day, The Photograph throws back to the days of Love Jones and Hav Plenty (without the side of fuckboy) to showcase Black life and real relationship dilemmas without once feeling dated. And as if that isn't enough, the thoroughly sublime score comes courtesy of Robert Glasper. 

Written and directed by Stella Meghie, The Photograph is 106 minutes of what really happens after the meet-cute moment in a rom-com. The pace is smooth - which is to be expected with a Glasper produced score - the cast stellar, and the story the type that needs to be normalized. These relationships, past and present, are emotionally rich without once relying on trauma or toxic dynamics to build dimension or set the mood. 

The  Photograph is an Old Fashion Love Story...the Good Kind  

The Photograph weaves its story around a man searching for something more and a woman working on being herself. It invites the audience into their lives deepening character development with necessary moments with family and friends. It's a fresh take on how (not) to carry one's baggage from relationship to relationship. 

Love is hard even when if it's clear that the connection is one of the soul. The Photograph is romance and reality perfectly set to music. It's sexy, stirring and restrained in a way that disarms and charms despite any flaws. 

Tentative Love

Michael Block (Lakeith Stanfield) is a veteran journalist for a New York newspaper. He's working on a profile of Issac (Rob Morgan), a Louisiana fisherman in the aftermath Katrina and an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Issac shows Michael pictures while talking about his Gulf  experiences and life in Pointe à la Hache, Louisiana. One particular black and white photo of a woman he calls Christina leads to a discussion of "the one" that got away. Recognizing the name, Block adds a search for more Eames photos to his research once back in New York. 

Famed photographer Christina Eames died unexpectedly leaving her daughter Mae Morton (Issa Rae) - and husband (Courtney B. Vance) - to confront the secrets left in a safe deposit box. Mae and her mother had an uneasy relationship. Christina leaves a heartfelt letter and one of the few photographs taken of her behind with answers to unasked questions. When Michael reaches out asking if her mother had any other photos of her hometown, the pair meet at the museum where she's a curator, and Michael's immediately captivated by Mae.

Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield star in The Photograph from Universal Pictures

The onscreen energy between Stanfield and Rae simmers. It's subtle and multi-flavored; never once feeling inauthentic or forced. It's an portrayal infrequently chosen for onscreen love affairs particularly those centering dark-skinned Black people. There are moments when the couple's energy falters but even those set a more realistic tone of a new relationship. 

Visuals That Add to the Story

There's a shifting discomfort between the pair that makes for a compelling counterbalance that keeps you from ever checking out of the story. Coupled with golden-edged visuals (Cinematographer Mark Schwartzbard) that make the most of shadow and light playing beautifully across brown skin, The Photograph is a stylish modern romance between equals.

The Photograph and Legacy

The Photograph is a generational story. Meghie uses a shifting narrative to guide Mae towards love and understanding; both of herself and her mother. A single photograph anchors an explanation of a mother's shortcomings. As the audience watches Mae and Michael inch ever-closer to one another, her mother's letter turns back time to the days of Christina (Chanté Adams) and Issac (Y’lan Noel) and a love that couldn't survive Christina's unwavering need to do better for herself. 

Y'lan Noel and Chanté Adams in Universal Pictures The Photograph