PARK CITY – An understated yet still thoughtful drama about three people navigating their lives, relationships, and futures, director Rachael Abigail Holder’s “Love, Brooklyn” is one of those works that could easily be overlooked in the hustle and bustle of a film festival even though it very much shouldn’t. Without ever flagging up its more significant ideas, it gradually works its way into your heart and mind while remaining deeply attuned to the rhythms of its characters.
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Following the struggling writer Roger, played by the consistently excellent André Holland, as he puts off working on a long-overdue piece about the borough however he possibly can while maintaining complicated semi-romantic relationships with Nicole, a delightful DeWanda Wise, and Casey, a nuanced Nicole Beharie, it’s one of those adult dramas that feels all too rare in cinema today. Even as there are some occasional technical missteps, it always finds its footing.
Playing out with a more relaxed pacing, “Love, Brooklyn” builds its world from the inside out rather than the outside in by emphasizing the character beats most other films would overlook. There is often nothing big going on other than two people talking after sex or just wandering about in a gallery, joyously teasing each other while occasionally reflecting on art. Much of this comes from the fact that Casey is a gallery owner herself who is trying to hold onto the space but is realizing that this might not be something she can do forever. It’s one of those parts of the film where writer Paul Zimmerman doesn’t underline or overly develop the deeper ideas in a way that could prove frustrating to some. However, it is also naturalistic as, for Casey, this is just part of her day-to-day. Whenever she is with Roger, she gets a break from that, yet we still feel it increasingly weighs on her that this place that’s so special to her may slip through her fingers like the salt in a painting they discuss before wandering high through a gallery.
Alongside this, we see how Nicole is grappling with struggles of her own following the loss of her husband and making sure to move slowly with Roger while still thinking about the impact that he could have on her young daughter. There is a comedic quality to the scenes that the trio share as they go through the awkward motions of talking about complicated adult relationships with the young child, and they reveal much about themselves to each other. It also has a genuine warmth to it as well, never falling into being overly saccharine while still offering up more sweet, soulful, and sincere beats that sneak up on you. Without you realizing it, what began as a seemingly newish relationship starts to become something that both Roger and Nicole are happy being part of. There are still moments where everything starts to come apart, namely when Roger proves to be a terrible communicator, but it also balances it with a reflective charm.
Without all of the performers being completely at the top of their game, none of this would work, and it could grow tiresome rather quickly. Luckily, all of them give such refreshingly vulnerable, funny, and lived-in performances that make you more than happy to spend time with all of them. Even as the way the film is suddenly cut in the middle of a conversation can occasionally disrupt the natural flow of a scene, and some of the audio design sounds a little off, these disruptions are thankfully never so glaring that they shatter the delicate story being told. When we then get one final moving monologue from Roger, something that was always subtext though now becomes text, it provides a fittingly bittersweet conclusion that grabs hold of you one more time and lets the understated emotions float gently away just as the characters all wander off together one last time. [B]
