Jeff Nichols's Loving is ostensibly about Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court case in 1967 (!) that determined that interracial marriage is legal in the United States. What it's really about, however, is the eponymous couple, bizarrely but actually named Mildred and Richard Loving (played by Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton), and the turmoil that unfolds from their decision to love who they want to love. It's Nichols's best film since Take Shelter (my favorite film of 2011) and would easily have made it into my top 10 of last year had I caught it during its US release.
Perhaps the greatest strength of the film is its restraint. It's a sad story but the film isn't a weeper, eschewing grand Hollywood moments for quieter, more intimate moments. The Supreme Court proceedings are barely covered with more time being spent on the Lovings' social gatherings in Virginia. The score by David Wingo isn't particularly unusual or avant-garde, but it's understated and used sparingly. The cinematography by Adam Stone is striking but not self-conscious, knowing when to be stationary and when to dolly in and how quickly to do so. But above all, it is Nichols's direction and (likely aided by the fact he wrote the screenplay) his authorial voice shining in every shot without ever being self-conscious that truly elevates the film into greatness.
And that's to say nothing of the acting (when Nichols's BFF Michael Shannon does a cameo, you know the main cast is excellent.) Ruth Negga is deservedly receiving plaudits for her performance, but it's Joel Edgerton who really stole the show, mainly, for holding back. Richard Loving represents the best of the Southern Man: stoic, brave, and good. He's not a particularly intelligent or outspoken social activist, mostly getting dragged into the whole case due to his wife, and what's devastating about his character is his inability to see why they need to go through these proceedings, why they "need to bother anyone." He's so pure as to not even fully comprehend what living in a racist society is. After all it is, at its core, completely illogical. We need more people like that in this day and age.
The film ran the risk of becoming Oscar-bait; i.e., a competent film about an important story but nothing more. (To be honest, I felt that Nichols's Mud and Midnight Special were merely competent films that both sagged too much and didn't live up to the near-perfection of Take Shelter.) This is an auteur's film of one of the most overlooked cases in the surreal history of the United States (I never learned of the case during any of my schooling), and it's up there with 12 Years A Slave and Do The Right Thing in terms of masterpieces about the treatment of black Americans. It's refreshing that a film so simple and straightforward can also be so good. Kind of like the marriage of the Lovings.
