Sadly I missed the Cineworld Unlimited screening of TILL, so the other day I popped over to the cinema to review what turned out to be a compelling and emotional movie from director Chinonye Chukwu.
TILL is based on the true story of Emmett Till (Jalyn Hall) a 14 year-old-boy that is murdered by a brutal lynching while visiting his cousins in Mississippi, his mother (Danielle Deadwyler) vows to expose the racism behind the brutal attack on her son while attempting to bring those responsible to justice.
The movie opens up with a happy feeling as Emmett and his mother Mamie are together in a car singing along enjoying life and loving every moment together. Emmett wants to go and see his cousins who work on a cotton farm and Mamie warns her son to act differently than he does in Chicago.
Emmett embarks on the train to Mississippi and unknown to them both this is the last time that Mamie will see her son alive, after a short while of enjoying his time with his cousins, they all head to a small town shop in Money and Emmett’s politeness to others is soon taken as on offence by the white shop keeper, she chases him and his friends from the shop with as she heads to get a shotgun!
All seems OK for a while and then one night, two men come to take Emmett away to punish him for what he has been accused of doing, we are soon given a dark scene as we hear the screams of pain from the young boy as he is murdered by the men!
As I mentioned in the heading of this review, TILL is a powerful movie and it has many moments that are very emotional, such as the moment that Mamie finds out that Emmett’s body has been found and we are given a stunning scene with superbly performed dolly zoom of Mamie as the realisation hits her, this a scene that had me choked up and the power of Deadwyler’s portrayal in this scene alone is brilliant.
It’s not shocking enough that a young, innocent, 14-year-old has been brutally lynched, but it’s the shock of seeing the battered, bruised and swollen body of Emmett that takes your breath away, the scene is shot with us not seeing the body on the coroner’s table, as the table is thinly obscured. It’s not until Mamie is on her own that the camera pans up and we get a glimpse of what has been done to the boy.
Mamie decides to show the world her son and she invites everyone to an open casket viewing of her son, in his best suit, for all the world to see what racism has done to her son. Again the emotion pours from the scene Emmett lies in the coffin for all to see.
I wasn’t expecting how emotional TILL was going to be when I originally saw the trailer. Director Chinonye Chukwu has brought us a wonderfully produced movie that will have you laughing at the start and in tears as the film progresses to its conclusion.
The cast is superb and Danielle Deadwyler certainly deserves as many awards as possible for her powerful performance as Mami Till-Mobley, in his time on screen Jalyn Hall was great as Emmett and you got the feeling that Emmett just wanted to be kind to everyone he met. It was lovely to see Whoopi Goldberg back on the big screen.
The cinematography in TILL really brings back to life the 1950s, the colours are great, the dark scenes stand out well and the full widescreen format shows off the locations used for the production. The music from Abel Korzeniowski (Emily, The Nun) is a joy to listen to as well and brings more emotion to the scenes.
Powerful and Emotional
Movie title: TILL (2022)
Movie description: In 1955, after Emmett Till is murdered in a brutal lynching, his mother vows to expose the racism behind the attack while working to have those involved brought to justice.
Date published: January 7, 2023
Country: UK
Duration: 2h 10m
Director(s): Chinonye Chukwu
Actor(s): Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Summary
TILL is a powerful piece of cinema and a movie that will have you gripped from start to finish.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
