The Photograph – 2020 – PG13
The Photograph parallels two couples along a multi-narrative romantic storyline, moving fluidly between the 1980s and present day; and between New York City and Pointe á la Hache, Louisiana, a small fishing village on the eastern banks of the Mississippi River near New Orleans.
We learn through a soft spoken, gently unfurling narrative and a soothing jazz and rich R&B score that young, handsome Isaac Jefferson (Rob Morgan), content as a crab fisherman in his humble Louisiana abode, falls in love with restless,“I don’t want the most exciting part of my day to be cooking your dinner” Christina Eames (Chantè Adams), an aspiring photographer. After a sultry tryst in a New Orleans jazz club—and despite Isaac’s refurbishing a shed into a darkroom—Christina chooses adventure over matrimony and unbeknownst to family, friends and Isaac, buys a one-way bus ticket to Manhattan where she starts a new life.
Thirty years later journalist Mike Block (Lakeith Stanfield), pursuing a human interest story on the demise of *post-Deepwater Horizon Gulf fishing, interviews a balding and bespectacled Isaac and is drawn to a vintage black & white photo on Isaac’s mantle, Pointe á la Hache’s hometown Mona Lisa. The haunting portrait leads Mike from the luxuriant, verdant Louisiana countryside hugging the mighty Mississippi River, to vibrant, energetic, metropolitan Queens where he tracks down museum curator, stunning Mae Morton (Issa Rae), estranged and grieving daughter of recently deceased, highly acclaimed photographer Christina Eames, the subject of Isaac’s photograph.
The movie weaves the promising yet ultimately unrequited love story of Christina and Isaac with the blossoming yet cautionary romance of Mae and Mike. Flipping roles, Christina sought new horizons in cosmopolitan New York while Mae latches on to the predictable and practical. Isaac was satisfied with the Louisiana known while Mike yearns for London change. Will generational lessons be applied and wisdom taken to heart or will a new generation of broken hearts prevail, like mother like daughter? Mae inherits two confessional letters penned by Christina, one for Mae and one for Mae’s father. Will the mysterious contents shed new light on decisions past and future? Will the rueful 1989 words of Christina prove prophetic for Mae, “I wish I was as good at love as I am at working. I wish I didn’t leave people behind so often”?
Only time will tell.
*The 2010 BP Oil Spill, one of the largest environmental disasters in American history, destroyed the fishing industry along the Louisiana coast. For a closer look into the environmental destruction and corporate cruelty, sign up on IMDb’s Watchlist to see the 2014 documentary, Vanishing Pearls: The Oystermen of Point à la Hache.
