Regina King is the standout in Barry Jenkins’s Beale Street adaptation: She’s a fearsome mother, but also a tender one. James Baldwin imbued If Beale Street Could Talk with his ideas about family, particularly the way parents labor to leave their children with a better legacy than the one they’ve been born into. When Tish (KiKi Layne) tells her mother Sharon (King) that she’s pregnant, Sharon doesn’t question it, even though Tish’s boyfriend Fonny (Stephan James) is incarcerated. Tish and Fonny’s baby becomes the whole family’s priority. But in this clip from the movie, Sharon confronts Fonny’s mother (Aunjanue Ellis) about the pregnancy: Fonny’s mother sees the baby as a disgrace; Sharon sees it as a gift. “That child that’s coming is your grandchild,†she says to Fonny’s mom, incredulous. “I don’t understand you. It’s your grandchild. What difference does it make how it gets here?†You can see If Beale Street Could Talk in theaters today.
Beale Street Clip: Watch How You Talk to Regina King’s Daughter
