LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Film Clips


Ruth Negga (left) stars as Mildred and Joel Edgerton (right) stars as Richard in Jeff Nichols "Loving," a Focus Feature release. Photo Ben Rothstein / Focus Features

As the Beatles song goes: "There's nothing you can know that isn't known. Nothing you can see that isn't shown. There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be. It's easy. All you need is love. Love is all you need." "Loving," the movie, shows the strength of love and the struggles one must overcome to have the right to love in 1958 and, in many cases, is still true today.

"Loving" tells the story of a young interracial couple, Richard (Caucasian) and Mildred (African-American) and their struggle that they take all the way to the Supreme Court in order to have the right to be married in the U.S. When she was 18, Mildred became pregnant and was unable to marry Richard due to the anti-miscegenation laws in their home state of Virginia. Richard made the decision to marry Mildred in Washington D.C. where it was legal. Upon returning to Virginia, both Mildred and Richard were arrested and sentenced to a year in prison. It was their decision to fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to have to right to marry the one you love.

Director Jeff Nicholas ("Mud," "Take Shelter") delivers on a subject matter that could have been filmed with darkness and violence but instead he directed a soft heart-rending love story. Both lead actors Ruth Negga (Mildred) and Joel Edgerton (Richard) bring excellent performances to the screen that are worthy of Oscar consideration. "Loving" is the best movie so far this year and will receive many award nominations.

"Loving" is rated PG-13 due to sexual references and slurs with a TRT (total running time) of two hours and three minutes. This movie should be seen by all for Love is all you need!

Coming Events at the Lamorinda Theatres:

7 p.m. Nov. 17 - Live Comedy Series at Orinda with headliner, Jeff Richards from "Saturday Night Live" and "MadTV."

7 p.m. Nov. 26 - Silent Movie Night at the Rheem Theatre - "Nosferatu," the first vampire/Dracula movie ever made with live music score by Patti Liedecker and lecture by Leonard Pirkle.