Sylvie's Love - Review

 

SYLVIE'S LOVE

At first glance, Sylvie’s Love sounds like something right up my alley; a simple, intimate romantic drama told against the backdrop of a historical, sweeping, decade-long story, this one starting in the late fifties and ending in the sixties. I’m always a sucker for films like that, whether it’s something like Brokeback Mountain or Casablanca. So on those terms, the film succeeds. But dig a little deeper, and you find that it succeeds at so much more than just that.

 

The film stars Tessa Thompson (who is also credited as executive producer) as the titular Sylvie, a 50s Harlem girl who works at her father’s record store while dreaming of becoming a TV producer. Her life is turned upside-down when she meets Robert Halloway (Nnamdi Asomugha, who also produces), a saxophonist who accepts a day-job at the record store, and they start to fall in love.

 

…and that’s where I’m gonna stop describing the plot. Not out of some fear of spoiling things, but mostly because you can probably guess the rest of the film from that setup. If you’ve seen one movie about a sweeping romance between two star-crossed lovers, the plot turns in Sylvie’s Love aren’t necessarily gonna knock your socks off; jilted spouses, unexpected pregnancies, breakups, makeups, the gang’s all here.

 

However, this is not a knock against the film, no siree! In fact, this is one of those films where the plot is more traditional so we can focus more on the acting and the aesthetics, both of which are stellar. I’m always a sucker for stories set in Harlem because of the Black identity that it exudes. And in this case, writer/director Eugene Ashe and DP Declan Quinn know how to show it off, from the cool, blue hues of the jazz nightclubs to the charmingly retro feel of the record store. The music is also very good here, with an appropriately romantic string-driven score by Fabrice Lecomte, accompanied by some appropriate jazz and early 50s rock-and-roll needle-drops.

 

The acting is good across the board, the two standouts obviously being Thompson and Asomugha, who both have chemistry to burn. Aja Naomi King demonstrates great comic timing as Sylvie’s cousin Mona, and Lance Reddick (hey, it’s always nice to see him!) is appropriately warm and reassuring as Sylvie’s father. All the other actors are good and get the job done, but this is mainly Thompson and Asomugha’s show, and as stated before, their chemistry is what carries the movie.

 

Probably the most surprising thing this film does is keep the focus on the romance. It would have been so easy for this film, because of its mostly black cast, to focus so much on the racism and prejudice of the late 50s and early 60s. And while there are some references to it – because it’s the late 50s, early 60s, and you kinda have to reference it unless you wanna engage in some Princess and the Frog levels of historical revisionism and just pretend it didn’t happen or tone it down (trust me, I will talk about that film someday) – it’s not really the focus. The focus is mainly just on the two leads making their way through an old-fashioned, sincere, nigh tear-jerking love story that can arguably stand up there with the best of them.

 

So, yeah! Not much to say but check this out on Amazon Prime! I really liked it and I think you will too.