Interracial marriage in the South in the late 1950’s. Richard and Mildred Loving fought for the right to be recognized as a married couple and raise their family in Virginia. This is the true story of Loving vs Virginia, the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case which invalidated state laws prohibiting interracial marriage.

Story: This is a quiet movie that makes a really loud point. The writers do a great job of showing the Lovings as simple, mild mannered people from the country who want for nothing more than to be together and raise their family in their home state of Virginia.

Because most of this is probably so well documented, straying from the actual facts was likely not necessary. The details of this story are so dramatic, it creates its own energy and anxiety. Injustice is always dramatic…

Performances: Joel Edgerton is extremely mild in his portrayal of Richard Loving, as is Ruth Negga as Mildred. There are moments when I found myself willing them to speak up… say more… be loud! I want them to scream, but, that’s not necessary. My sense is that the Lovings were not those people in real life and the performances needed to match that.

Likewise, Nick Kroll as Bernie Cohen and Jon Bass as Phil Hirschkop are not setting the screen on fire. But, their fight for justice makes the point…

Visual: It looks like 1958 and subsequently, 1960 something. The backdrops look really authentic – enough to convince me, having lived in Washington, D.C. and visited Virginia frequently.

Of note: The filmmakers were most thoughtful about the way the Loving’s children looked. Upon further investigation, pictures of the real Loving children in relation to the casted Loving children is uncanny. A+

Rating: It’s a B-. It really is a slow, quiet non-confrontational telling of this story. It’s an important story, but, I’d like to believe the turbulence of the 1960’s would have rubbed off on this tale as well. But, this is proof that every injustice during the 1960’s didn’t need to result in an uprising to get justice… And this version certainly doesn’t lend itself to an uprising of any kind.

Nonetheless, this is an important story that everyone should see…