And just like that, we have a new movie to add to our cult classics. Sundance Film Festival darling Love, Brooklyn is now playing in theaters, distributed by Greenwich Entertainment. The independent film is a modern romantic drama with a lively all-black cast of “Brooklynites,” starring André Holland, Nicole Beharie, DeWanda Wise and Roy Wood Jr. “Seeing those movies [like] Love Jones, Best Man, those were stories that made me feel like I could tell stories,” Love, Brooklyn director Rachael Holder said at the film’s New York screening during opening weekend this summer.

Love, Brooklyn is seemingly a slow burn with an easygoing beginning, a tumultuous midpoint, and a comforting ending. With Brooklyn as the backdrop, the film’s cinematography pleasantly shines on its own. The greenery, brownstones, local businesses and residents all capture the livelihood of the ever-changing borough. “Brooklyn ends up being in the movie without us having to do a lot of cuts to Brooklyn,” cinematographer Martim Vian explained. “What I’ve been saying a lot in these conversations is that we wanted to shoot real Brooklyn,” Holder added. “And then we also wanted to make sure that people know that we’re [Black people] still there.”

Evidently, Brooklyn has experienced wide-spread gentrification over the years, which is subtly mentioned throughout the movie. But beyond the cityscape, Holder expressed that Vian understood her artistic language, when ideating her cinematic vision. Holder also noted that it’s a “tremendous gift” to trust others with your art. At its core, Love, Brooklyn is a story of love and loss, second chances and parting ways with the past.  

MadameNoire attended one the select few screenings at the Angelika Film Center, featuring a post-premiere Q&A facilitated by entertainment journalist Cori Murray. 

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On storytelling that influenced their work (e.g. literature, film, music):

Rachael Holder: “…I would be like seven years old, going to an August Wilson play. And I remember seeing Seven Guitars. If you know that play, it went completely over my head. I had no idea what was going on but I could feel all their feelings on stage. And I just was in love with it. I used to think that people didn’t write plays, that the actors were writing what was happening themselves. I just loved the energy of the feelings. And I think that core, that feeling is what brought me to storytelling.”

Martim Vian: “I think Lion King for me. I was 12 [audience laughs]. I remember just being in the theater for the first maybe five minutes, the pictures and the music, I was full body chills. I wanted to know how they did that to me, why this was happening to me. And my dream as a kid was to be an animator because of that movie, so I actually tried animation and then ended up in live action.”

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