Following her impressive 2019 sophomore film, Clemency director Chinonye Chukwu brings one of the great American tragedies to the big screen in Till from United Artists. Danielle Deadwyler leads this profoundly emotional and cinematic journey as Mamie Till Mobley and her relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till (Jaylen Hill), who, in 1955, was brutally lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie’s poignant grief journey turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother’s ability to change the world.
The script for Till hails from Brooklyn-based filmmaker Keith Beauchamp, Chukwu, and Michael Reily. Beauchamp spent twenty-seven years researching the project. His efforts led to Till’s case being reopened by the Department of Justice in 2004 after the United States Department of Justice reopened it in 1992. In addition, until he died in 2017, Simeon Wright served as a consultant to the project. Wright was a close relative of Till and an eyewitness to the event in 2014.
The tragedy of Emmet Till was always a story that I knew the basics of but never fully digested the full depths of. Till introduces us to the mother/son relationship between Mamie and Emmett. Sadly, Emmet’s father lost his life while serving his country during World War I. I commend Chukwu’s choice not to show the title credit until after Till departs for his trip down south to visit relatives.
In the titular role, Jaylen Hill personifies youth, and you instantly have a liking for the character. Audiences will recognize Hill from this summer’s Space Jam: A New Legacy and the hit TV show All American. One of the most skillful things a director can do is introduce us to a character, have us relate to them and then take them away from us. While we know the story of Till will go, Chinonye Chukwu’s handling of the material makes the film work.
I also want to let viewers know that we don’t see the murder on screen. Instead, Chinonye Chukwu enables the sound to play a part during the attack and shows us the body when Mamie discovers it. In my theater screening, you could hear audible gasps of sadness and shock at the scene. I lost t during the funeral scene with music being played. If memory serves, I haven’t sobbed that hard since Randall said goodbye to William in Season 1 of This Is Us.
After an emotional funeral, we get to what Till is genuinely about. and that’s to ensure the world knows what happened to me. Danielle Deadwyler gives a master class acting throughout the film and disappears into the role of Mamie. You are right there with every emotion the actress delivers on screen. From the moment she sees her firstborn in the coffin until her closing monologue after the not-guilty verdict, this performance pushes an actress to the A-List.
Even during the moments where Till falls into the standard biopic tropes, Deadwyler’s screen charisma comes through again. That said, not much time is devoted to supporting characters which is fine. Whoopi Goldberg, Frankie Faison, and Sean Patrick Thomas provided solid supporting work, but they understand this is Danielle Deadwyler’s film. Likewise, we don’t get much time on Caroline Bryant (Hailey Bennett) or the men who murdered Till, which is fine as they don’t need to be humanized. I will say the one supporting character who did impress was Tosin Cole, who portrays a young Medgar Evers.
When the credits rolled on the film, and the text revealed what happened to the characters, my fourteen-year-old son was taken aback that the Emmett Till antilynching act had just passed. That said, Till is one of the toughest watches you may have for the remainder of 2022. While I can understand some viewers not wanting to revisit this tragic moment in American history, the film is necessary.
Final Grade: A
Till is in limited release now, expands this Friday, October 21st, and goes wide on October 28th.
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