Loving * * * *

The Loving's by Jeff Nichols.  (Yeah, I know, it's an Aussie bloke and an Irish woman, but they're well cast.)

 

After the debacle of Midnight Special it is good to see Director Jeff Nichols back on track again.

      Loving is a true story about a quiet unassuming working class couple, Richard and Mildred Loving.  In the 1950’s and 60’s they lived in the state of Virginia where marriage between a “coloured” and a white person was against the law.

     They were forced to move away and so they took up residence in Washington DC. But it was not where Mildred wanted to be.  She missed her large family in Virginia.  

      Mildred wrote to Bobby Kennedy and received a direct phone call from him.  Soon top civil rights lawyers were acting for them pro-bono and their case escalated to the Supreme Court.

Refusing to go to court the shy, humble and reserved Richard Loving, gave one message to his lawyer to take to the Supreme court.  “Tell them I love my wife and we just want to be together”. .

     The film beautifully recreates the period and both lead actors are convincing in their roles.  Even though this was a landmark case in the Supreme Court Jeff Nichols has kept this a drama about the Loving family, rather than the Court proceedings, and the film is richer for that.