Oscars Preview: 30 Movies to Watch Before the Nominations Come Out!

Image courtesy of Focus Features

Loving

What it’s about: 

Loving is a historical drama about Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter, family friends who end up falling in love and getting married. The problem is that it’s the 1950’s, he is white, and she is black. They live in Virginia, which has laws against miscegenation (an old-fashioned term for interracial relationships). They travel to Washington, D.C. in order to get married, but soon after they return they are arrested by a sheriff who claims that their marriage certificate isn’t valid in the state. Since they ordered not to return to Virginia together, they move away.

When they return so that Richard’s mother can be involved in the delivery of their child, they are arrested again. The Lovings choose to fight the injustice of anti-miscegenation laws, contacting the ACLU and beginning a court case that goes all the way to the Supreme Court. You may remember it from your history classes as Loving vs. Virginia.

Major Players:

The movie was written and directed by Jeff Nichols. Joel Edgerton portrays Richard Loving and Ruth Negga plays Mildred Loving. None of them have ever been nominated before, but all three are generating buzz this year.

What the Critics are Saying:

Many reviewers are praising the intimacy and simplicity of Loving, commenting on how its un-showy nature is endlessly refreshing. Manohla Dargis of the New York Times writes, “There are few movies that speak to the American moment as movingly — and with as much idealism — as Jeff Nichols’s ‘Loving’.” And Ann Hornaday from the Washington Post calls it, “…every bit as soft-spoken and subtly implacable as its protagonists.” Its quiet elegance doesn’t seem to be for everyone, though, as Peter Debruge of Variety notes that it is “a film of utmost sensitivity, but not nearly enough outrage…”

Possible Nominations

Best Picture, Best Director (Nichols), Best Adapted Screenplay (Nichols), Leading Actress (Negga), Leading Actor (Edgerton)