‘Love, Brooklyn’ Review: A Story Of Change Along Bedford Avenue

Nicole Beharie and André Holland in ‘Love, Brooklyn’ (Greenwich Entertainment)

Rachael Abigail Holder’s Love, Brooklyn is the rare romance that remembers love is a thing you negotiate, not just a thing you fall into. It remembers that Brooklyn isn’t defined by renowned art galleries and chic coffee shops, but rather the people who have owned the building the art gallery sits in for several generations and the pair of friends who sit outside the coffee shop every morning, talking about life, love, and how their relationship with the neighborhood is changing. It’s a place where people kiss their past goodbye in Fort Greene Park, race towards their future along Bedford Avenue, and maybe, if they’re lucky, find a way to live with the mess of both.

Holder and writer Paul Zimmerman may be responsible for crafting this cinematic love letter to the borough that birthed Biggie, but Alabama native and longtime Brooklyn resident André Holland is the one who ultimately signs it. Playing the lead, Holland delivers a performance that is equally warm, vulnerable, and honest. His character, Roger, is a journalist struggling to find his next story in more ways than one, but rest assured, he’s working on it.
Personally, Roger finds himself stuck between his ex-girlfriend, Casey, played by Nicole Beharie, and his “friend,” Nicole, played by DeWanda Wise. Casey is familiar, comfortable, and yet stalled in her growth, much like Roger. Still, the familiar is fun and inviting. Roger and Casey spend much of their time together laughing, joking, eating THC-infused gummies, and venting about their careers, all while avoiding direct, in-depth conversations about why they broke up in the first place. Conversely, Roger’s relationship with Nicole is unfamiliar and new, but it offers an invitation for his own personal growth. Nicole, a widow and mother of a young girl, challenges him with a sense of urgency that forces him to grapple with a series of questions that he seemingly doesn’t want to answer. Is he ready to do the work necessary to sustain a relationship? Is he ready to be a father figure to a child who is still grieving the loss of her father? More importantly, is he willing to do either of those things?
André Holland and Roy Wood Jr. in ‘Love, Brooklyn.’ (Greenwich Entertainment)

Professionally, Roger is a journalist in a way that myself and many others can relate to — a writer who struggles to write, but loves having written. After rising to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic by writing pieces that offered a sense of hope and optimism about Brooklyn’s future, he’s been hired by a legacy media outlet that expects him to churn out another piece with a similar sentiment. However, much like the borough he’s expected to write about, he’s changed, and his sense of optimism has withered away as he becomes re-acquainted with a place that looks different, but still holds the same name. Even if he’s physically capable, he can’t fix his fingers to write something that he knows to be dishonest.

The story of Roger’s journey and daily dilemmas is colored by the performances of Beharie, Wise, Roy Wood Jr., and Cassandra Freeman. Beharie’s Casey is a slightly more evolved, yet equally complex version of Roger. Casey, at times, calls out Roger for being unable to mature fully and reach his full potential as a partner, but is attracted to him because she is in the same place as well. Personally, she hasn’t done all of the work on herself that may be needed and professionally, she’s caught in a hard place as she mourns the Brooklyn her art gallery used to serve and grapples with the Brooklyn it now exists in. Beharie’s ability to color outside the lines and be a quirky, idiosyncratic version of herself in ways she’s rarely been given space to be previously highlights a core strength of Holder’s directorial feature — providing familiar names to showcase sections of their skillset that are not always on display. Wise is still the same charismatic, fun-loving Brooklynite that she was in Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It, but she’s more resolved and conscientious because she’s not only looking to invigorate her love life; she’s also looking for a father to her daughter, Ally, played brilliantly by Cadence Reese. Wood Jr., who plays Roger’s married friend and confidant, Marcus, is still as funny as ever, but subtle in ways that The Daily Show doesn’t call for him to be. His performance as a married man who is often tempted by other women, but never gives in, creates room for comedic banter where he’s asking about Roger’s sex life, but never forces him to make the audience slap their knees and chuckle out loud. Freeman’s character, Lorna, loves art and creativity in the same way Vivian Banks does, but she’s asked to be more pretentious and pompous than the Peacock series requires her to be.

Now, is Love, Brooklyn flawless? At times, the exact reasoning as to why Roger and Casey’s relationship feels vague. A bit of Roger’s background as a journalist feels as if it’s missing. It’s unclear how long Nicole’s spouse has been deceased and how he lost his life. But none of those missing elements prevent the stellar performances of the cast, Zimmerman’s vivid writing, and Holder’s ability to shoot her hometown in a loving manner from shining through. Rather, the moments of vagueness sprinkled in reflect the core tenet of the film — change. No matter how fast Holland’s Roger pedals his bike down Bedford Avenue, it’s coming. In fact, it may have already arrived. Now, Roger must ask himself, “Am I going to do the work on myself to adapt to these changes, and what community will I create for myself as I do this work?” The answers to those questions are in a 97-minute screening of Holder’s Love, Brooklyn at a theater near you.

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