Written and directed by, Stella Meghie, The Photograph is a 2020 romantic drama that could be the perfect movie for your next date night! The wife and I actually rented this movie on Amazon Prime and had a pretty fun and romantic time with it. I would not put it in the greatest love stories of all time category, but we both enjoyed it and have recommended it to a few other people.
How to Stream or Download The Photograph (2020)
You can stream it or you can download the film from a digital store. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you like Issa Rae check her out also in The Hate U Give (2018). To see more of Lakeith Stanfield, look for him in Uncut Gems (2019), Knives Out (2019), or Judas and the Black Messiah (2021).
The Movie Review
While I would say that The Photograph is a love story, it is actually a bit more than that. It is also a movie about discovery, coming to terms with the past, and letting go as well. I have to say that the original trailer for this movie is perfect if you watch that and feel like this is a movie you would like, you will like it! The trailer is not misleading at all and lets you know exactly what kind of movie you are in for.
We have two main characters in The Photograph. First of all, we have Issa Rae as Mae Morton. Mae is a very interesting character, she had a troubled and estranged relationship with her mother, Christina Eames who was a famous photographer. Her mother passes and in a safety deposit box, she finds a letter and a photo that leads her on a quest to find out more about her mother and herself.
The other main character in the movie is a journalist called, Michael and he is played by LaKeith Stanfield. Michael becomes interested in the life of Christina Eames and wants to do a story about her life. This brings him into contact with Mae and the two of them start talking about Christina and as you would expect, they start to fall in love.
While it may seem like this is going to be a “happy, happy, joy, joy” (random Ren & Stimpy reference there) it also deals with the complicated side of love too which I think was something the movie did very well. One of the parts I found most interesting was seeing Mae trying to come to terms with why her mother was the way that she was.
There is good chemistry between LaKeith Stanfield and Issa Rae, you do actually want the two of them to end up together, but you are never sure if Mae is going to really let her guard down and allow it to happen. I do have to say that while there is nothing wrong with the supporting cast.
The supporting cast is kind of just there. Apart from Chante Adams as Christina and Rob Morgan as Isaac, I would have a hard time telling you the name of another side character in this movie! That is not a huge problem at the end of the day as the two leads do more than a decent enough job of carrying the movie.
I think that The Photograph is going to be one of those movies that go under a lot of people’s radars. It is far from a bad movie, but it is not a great one either. While the wife and I enjoyed it, we both said it would probably not be a movie that we would watch again. Still, for a romantic movie night in the house, you cannot really go wrong with this.
