TILL (Story of Emmett Till) Interview w/ Dir Chinonye Chukwu

TILL | United Artist Releasing | writer/director Chinonye Chukwu |Co-writers Michael Reilly &  Keith Beauchamp

Tinsel & Tine #MiniMovieReview TILL – Chinonye Chukwu, is a Temple University alumna, where she received her MFA. She is the first black woman to win the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance for her 2019 film CLEMENCY starring Alfre Woodard – which also screened at the Philadelphia Film Festival along with her first feature 2012 ALASKA-LAND.

When I first heard the story of Emmett Till was going to be its own feature film, I worried it would be too hard to take.  This young boy’s life and horrific death has been a huge representation of racial hatred, especially in the bigoted south, for my whole life, can’t even remember when I first learned of him.  His story has often been a part of other movies, documentaries and TV series when examining racial discrimination, lynching and the Civil Rights movement, but to my knowledge, there’s never been something solely about his murder.

Thankfully, this movie centers around Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley played with stunning truth and clarity by Danielle Deadwyler. We will definitely be seeing her everywhere in the fast approaching Awards Season.  I didn’t realize until I looked up her IMDB that she’s the same actress I was so impressed with in THE HARDER THEY FALL, she played the non-binary-ish Cuffee inspired by the real-life Cathay Williams.  She’s a tiny dynamite in that film, which in no way resembles the genteel, grace of Mamie in TILL. 

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We meet a smiling, music loving Emmett Till (Jalyn Hall) living in Chicago with his mother and grandmother (Whoopi Goldberg, also a Producer on the film). He’s quick to laugh, make jokes, be the center of attention.  He wants to spend the summer with his cousins in Money, Mississippi.  His mother Mamie doesn’t think it’s a good idea.  We feel her portent of danger in the worry behind her calm features, and the lightness of the music being just off enough to give you a sense of foreboding.  Mamie knows Emmett, whom everyone calls Bo, doesn’t really understand just how racially charged everything is in the South compared to the North, which was completely racist, but more polite about it.  Like the department store security guard who tries to steer Mamie to the basement to bargain shop instead of going to the main counters.  Mamie tries to impress upon Bo that he needs to make himself small while there, don’t engage with anyone white and if you must just be polite and keep your head down. It’s awful that mothers today still have to give their black sons this talk – warning them what not to do when engaging with the police, still having to be afraid for their children’s lives.  Bo says he understands, but you can tell by the innocent light of happiness on his face, he’s got no idea this kind of darkness exists.

Also thankfully and deftly, Chukwu does not show the beating and torture of Bo/Emmett, yet it’s still chilling and enough of a reminder of a past that’s not so far in the past, as we witnessed recently with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.  Yes, his murderers were sentenced to life in prison, but their hate crimes were nearly swept under the rug.

There’s beautiful detailing in the production of TILL, from costumes to the homes and stores both in the north and south. I read where a reviewer felt the vibrant coloring of the film should have changed to depict the differences between the two places, can’t decide if I agree.  But I do agree that it’s a story worth telling and seeing.

T&T Rating: 4.5 outta 5