Review: Till

Till
Cert: 12A / 130 mins / Dir. Chinonye Chukwu / Trailer

Directed by Chinonye Chukwu and screen-written with Michael Reilly and Keith Beauchamp, Till is the adapted true story of Emmet Louis Till (Jalyn Hall), a 14yr old African American from Chigaco who was murdered in 1955 by a white lynch-mob while on holiday in his family's heartland in Mississippi. The film covers this, and follows his mother Mamie (Danielle Deadwyler) in her subsequent fight to bring the killers to justice - unheard of at that time and place.

Cutting straight to the chase Hall is great, but for obvious reasons has limited screen-time. And while it may be named after Till's character, there can be no doubt that this is Deadwyler's film. Her performance is magnificently layered as a parent who is both cloyingly over-protective, and shown throughout to be entirely justified in that caution. Scenes of panic and of despair play as you would expect, but Danielle's skill lies in capturing the alternating numbness and simmering fury of her grief. Backing her up ably is John Douglas Thompson as Emmet's uncle Moses who was present on the night of the abduction, again with a complexity of emotion that most films would skip in favour of glowering silences.

PUNCHES

The production design and cinematography give this the aesthetic and colour palette of a much gentler film, so it's really down to the script and acting to deliver the story's punches. The drama builds more slowly than expected, rarely descending into theatrics even at its most heightened points. It's is rarely an easy-watch, intentionally and deservedly so, and Chukwu manages the intensity of the themes fairly well within a 12A certificate. While this certainly holds back in places, it's not likely that a 15 would allow the film to paper over its cracks, and ultimately the accessibility of the 12A is more important.

Other than the behaviour of the press in how these cases are covered during trial, there's not really any contemporary angle to the film. Till is an historical story, presented historically (had this been about a child being murdered by the police, it would play very differently in 2023). After a purposeful first act and its inevitable halt when the key plot-point takes place, the pacing feels off for a while as players are moved around the board; not so much like the film is building tension but actually putting off its crescendo.

JUDIES

The third act is essentially a Mississippi courtroom drama as Mamie's persistence leads to the landmark arrest of two men for the murder. It's well assembled but feels somehow ordinary for a film with this much to say. Because the screenplay has already shown the truth of events in the first act, there's no unravelling or revelation awaiting the viewer at the trial (other than watching the antagonists vilify themselves further), and the sequence borders on becoming admin.

The (thankful) exception to all this is the single, minutes-long, unbroken close-up sequence where Mamie is cross-examined by both the prosecution and the defence. Focusing purely on Deadwyler's delivery and reactions, it is an absolute masterclass. This scene will be the one which lands awards and leads to the film being seen by a wider audience, and ultimately that's what matters.

Till's performances are exceptional in some places solid everywhere else, but a pedestrian screenplay can't save the narrative limitations of historical fact, and the frankly unsatisfying nature of what is one dark chapter in a much larger story. At its most testing points, this risks turning into a John Grisham pastiche, and the story deserves better than that...

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