Till

Ten second review: the powerful performances are sure to move any viewer even if the film itself struggles a little with pacing.

The murder of Emmett Till is one of the most famous cases of lynching in US history. While visiting his family in Mississippi in the summer of 1955, a young boy from Chicago is accused of flirting with a white woman. Several days later her husband kidnaps him in the middle of the night, mutilates him, shoots him in the head and dumps his body in a river. The murder of Emmett Till became a National story after his mother, with the help of the NAACP, had pictures of his body published in the press.

It was only in 2022 that the Emmet Till Anti-Lynching bill was passed into law.

This is far from a perfect film and I’m won’t pretend that it is for the sake of selling it. It is a story that needs to be told, remembered and brought to audiences who don’t know of it already. It is not a film whose weight needs to be sold.

It feels a little long and at points could have been better scripted with punchier dialogue. There are scenes I would rearrange for dramatic effect and moments that may have carried messages differently were they given a more considered edit, but none of that is the emotion you leave the cinema with. The performances in this film; the rage, the sorrow, the drive, that is what you leave with.

Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till, Emmett’s mother, is phenomenal. The fact that I haven’t heard her name uttered in awards buzz is shocking as it is one of the most moving performances I’ve seen this year. The whole cast delivers, from the subtle background roles to those at the front, but Deadwyler is just incredible.

This is a film to be seen, and a story to know. I was surprised at how many people I’ve spoken to didn’t already know it and hopefully this will help that. If it’s showing near you, it’s worth your time, even if it’s not perfectly executed.