TILL

 This film about the lynching of Emmett Till and of his mother's near futile fight for justice is sadly just the kind of movie that still needs to be made today. It still horrifies me to think that lynchings and killings of black people in the USA were still happening in the fifties and sixties and that even today black lives don't seem to matter not just in America but in many countries in the so-called civilised West including here in the UK and that a film like "Till" isn't just a history lesson but something distressingly commonplace and director Chinonye Chukwu treats the subject with all the care and respect it deserves.

At its core is a superb performance from Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till who overcame her grief and her anger, not only to try to get a justice she knew in her heart would probably never come, but to make a difference to black lives in general. For an established actress this would be a remarkable performance but Deadwyler is still a relative newcomer which makes her performance all the more impressive. This is a performance and a film that is neither sentimental nor hysterical making it all the more moving and all the more distressing. A credit to everyone concerned.