Sylvie’s love
director – Eugene Ashe
distribution – Tessa Thompson, Nnamdi Asomugha, Aja Naomi King, Eva Longoria, Lance Reddick, Jemima Kirke
Sylvie’s Love, the new romantic melodrama on Amazon Prime Video, opens with a luxurious title sequence – the kind of title sequence that immediately evokes memories of a very particular era in film. Each actor receives an individual card, with the names of their characters displayed in bold yellow characters, as if they were playing all notable historical characters.
Currently, filmmakers underestimate the power of a good title sequence. It is a dying art. One of the stealth services it offers, among other things, is to immediately convey the tone of the film and attract the audience just before the story begins. The original title sequence in Sylvie’s Love, which turns its hat to the 1960s, does both.
Watch Sylvie’s Love’s trailer here
But once our attention has been drawn and the retro tone of the film has been promoted, Sylvie’s Love is so wrapped up in its stylistic brilliance that it often forgets simple things, such as character development. Not only does it visually evoke a bygone era in the making of the film – it is filmed on a 16 mm granular film – it follows, a little too religiously, the storytelling style of classic Hollywood romances. And it does this, unlike La La Land or the recent Mank, without putting a contemporary rotation on the material.
Directed by Eugene Ashe, the film Sundance is similar to Damien Chazelle’s masterpiece in many ways. But it also addresses some of the criticisms that have been directed at that musical.
Like La La Land, it tells the story of the cross-starred love of a budding jazz musician and a young woman who aspires to work in the entertainment industry. They meet at her father’s record store, where she finds a daily job. In the evening, he plays the saxophone with his band at local jazz clubs. But this time, critically, both protagonists are black.
Tessa Thompson plays Sylvie, who one day dreams of directing her own TV show, but she doesn’t know if she will be allowed to. She is disadvantaged, both racially and because of her gender. But Robert, on the other hand, operates in a world dominated by black men. This brings its own unique challenges.
The sparks fly in connection with Miles Davis’ latest album and hide quick conversations under Sylvie’s father’s nose. Before you know it, Robert asks her to come see him play. But true to its old-school melodrama nature, the film puts the protagonists in their rhythm with a series of invented counter-narratives, the first of which is Sylvie’s impending marriage.
Nnamdi Asomugha, left, and Tessa Thompson appear in a scene from Sylvie’s Love. (AP)
The film offers a refreshing perspective on the internal class structures of the black community. It wouldn’t be too much to describe it as a fairy tale. Sylvie is, in many ways, a waiting princess – a prominent member of the community, her future being carefully drawn to her. He can’t mess with a street rat like Aladdin.
And, like an old Disney movie, there are some ethical concerns you might have with certain events. For example, getting involved with Robert, Sylvie is ultimately cheating on her fiancé. And when, in retreat number two, Robert receives an offer to go to Paris with his band, it never occurs to him to stay back to be with her. Instead, he puts pressure on her when she says “we are all that matters” and asks her to come with him.
As it turns out, the film’s genre policy is blocked in the past. And that’s the main problem with that. It is too desirable for outdated narrative devices to appeal in any way to a discerning contemporary audience. Everything is very nice when the characters say things like “Enchanted, I’m sure” and “Can I have the pleasure of this dance?” in a casual conversation, but the sight of an independent woman following a man who turned his back on her is not easy to wrap.
That being said, we must not overlook his contributions to black cinema. Along with Pixar’s Soul and Ma Rainey’s extraordinary black ass, Sylvie’s Love is the third film of the month to highlight the artistic achievements of underrepresented culture. Maybe you see it as part of a triple hot bill of Christ?
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The author sends on Twitter @RohanNaahar