‘Love Brooklyn’ is the Black Romance We’ve All Been Waiting for

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.”

On the joy and pain of bringing the film to the big screen:

Rachael Holder: “Well, I’ll start with the pain so I can end with the joy. Yeah, it’s very hard to make any movie. Even if you have millions of dollars, it’s still very difficult to make anything. And we definitely did not have millions of dollars. The painful part? I guess it’s just convincing people that this was an interesting story to tell…And the joy for me? What was fun with our brilliant actors is that they were playing parts that they’ve never played before. 

We got to see Andre Holland fall in love and be light on his feet and funny; DeWanda Wise be sensitive and soft; Nicole Beharie be funny and weird, all those jerking things that she does with her body. Oh, my God. I just, I love that so much. I just love that we were able to create a space for Black characters to be soft and sensitive and funny and weird.”

Martim Vian: “Yeah, I think you know, these movies tend to come and go. This movie [we] almost shot twice before it actually happened. And for me, the harder it got, the more I had to decide that I wanted to stay in. So, yeah, I think in some weird way, the harder it gets, the more you have to really consider what you’re doing and whether it’s worth it. This was clearly worth it.”

On the creativity behind how the film should look and feel: 

Rachael Holder: “I spoke to, I think, 25 and photographers. And what’s really important with an independent film shooting in New York is to hire someone who lives in New York…We talked so much about light, about seeing our Black characters, even if they’re in dark spaces. Just making them well lit period. Not just about being seen. We’re literally finding reference points to have these discussions about light. I couldn’t find what I was looking to create. We would have to use white references, because a lot of the sunlight objectives didn’t exist. Martin was a genius when it comes to light. And so creating something out of nothing was a miracle. Every day I was just like, ‘Oh my god. Thank god. At least it’s pretty.’”

Martim Vian: “Yeah, I think I interviewed maybe 10 times for this job before I knew I had it. I think Rachel knew I had it, but I didn’t know. So we kept meeting over zoom. And every time we met I would bring more references. One was obviously seeing the characters, because the face is the window to emotion. So if you don’t see what they’re going through, you can’t feel it. There was also the green in Brooklyn and the sunlight of Brooklyn and the warmth of Brooklyn. And you [Rachael] also talked a lot about not letting the characters blend into the background. We decided to make this movie with a lot of depth of field, so the characters are always framed within their environment, and often there’s a lot of headroom…”

On working with André Holland:

Rachael Holder: “Originally, when I was given this script, it was out to another actor. A white actor who’s famous, won’t say his name. But he passed on the project [audience gasps]. He’s very much alive [audience laughs]. It was then that I told the producers, I think we have a cool opportunity here. I got the job pitching that the women would be of color. So, I was already kind of close to what I wanted, but when that actor passed [on doing the film]. Still alive, I was like, ‘we can make a black movie’. 

And so Andre Holland is an actor that–seeing him in Moonlight in that short scene or three scenes that he’s in. I think I’m not the only one who leaned into him and wanted to see him fall in love from a top to bottom story, not just a snippet, and that was my pitch to him…He came on as a producer and was sort of able to facilitate a lot of the things that we needed in this independent film. He called on a lot of his community and friends–very helpful.”

On working with child actors:

Rachael Holder: “I don’t believe that children are actors, that they’re pulling from anything real. But they have such an imagination because nothing is real to them. But Cadence [Cadence Reese], unlike most children, is a real actor. She could be told something about a story and follow you. Yeah, she was brilliant.”

On the film’s underlying perspective:

Rachael Holder: “…Particularly about Love Brooklyn, is it feels like it’s a movie about nothing, when in fact, it’s about something very specific and beautiful, and it’s Black people just existing and being vulnerable and sensitive and crying because they’re feeling deeply, not because something tragic and horrible is happening.”

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