Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

The Photograph Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 5, 2020

Writer/Director Stella Meghie's (The Weekend) The Photograph weaves together two family-ties tales of romance, self-discovery, life, and tragedy in two moments in time that span the the course of several decades. The picture is simple in its cadence and reflective on its characters, exploring them through the literal and figurative lenses of life. There's nothing narratively groundbreaking, no deep insights to love and life, but the experience is nevertheless a pleasant one, watching as the tales unfold with heart rather than hastiness, with soul rather than stuffiness, thanks in large part to committed performers who elevate otherwise trite material into agreeable diversion.

Mae Morton (Issa Rae) has recently lost her mother to cancer. Mae has perceived her as a flawed woman who was always distant in her life. Mae is nevertheless now a personal and professional success and she finds herself drawn to a journalist named Michael Block (Lakeith Stanfield) who has been assigned to profile Mae’s mother. As the two learn more about her and fall in love, the film flashes backwards to the 1980s when Mae’s mother Christina (Chanté Adams) was a budding photographer who moved from Louisiana to New York City. It also explores her relationship with Mae’s father, Isaac (Y'lan Noel).

It's the secondary story, the reflections back on Mae's mother Christina, that serves as the more interesting of the two tales, perhaps because it's not made of the more cookie-cutter elements that broadly define the burgeoning relationship between Michael and Mae, which finds its footing in genre cliché. That present-day tale plays more like a movie while Christina's story unfolds almost as if a string of still photographs, telling a tale but without so much of the surrounding filler getting in the way of the essentials and the raw emotion. Christina's story feels more soulfully attuned, offering audiences a very basic yet fundamentally lifelike and genuine story that's drawn from an emotional center whereas the present-day tale feeds off of agreeable but nevertheless cut-and-paste externalities with only a fraction of the personality found in the other story.

In both ends the performances are excellent. There's a positive, gentle chemistry shared between the actors in both timeframes that leave the audience satisfied that the connections are authentic, a product of the heart rather than a work of fiction born on a page. Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield, carrying the film's lesser story but first priority focus, build a relationship that certainly has its moments of physicality but feels fruitful in its development and enjoys a rich sense of personal touch on both the internal and external connections. For the past story, Chanté Adams and Y'lan Noel likewise build positive rapport, with the former doing particularly commendable work within a somewhat more opaque context that partially flows through her photography, which sometimes speaks for her and comes to define her life and time more fruitfully than basic dialogue.

The Photograph Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Photograph's 1080p presentation delivers a precise, sometimes even powerful 1080p presentation. The image showcases impeccable detailing in close-up, revealing tangible, tactile pores, bumps, hairs, and other elements with as much definition as the format can muster. Medium shots likewise prove more than capable, offering sharpness through the frame, including aforementioned skin and extending to clothes and various environments across timeframes and locations alike. Clarity remains excellent at distance as well, revealing nicely defined natural elements and city details even where they're not the focal point. The color palette is neutral and pleasing, delivering the picture's tonal spectrum with impressive accuracy, ranging from natural greenery to a vibrant yellow dress. Colors hold true in any lighting condition, inside or out. Black levels are satisfyingly deep and hold good detail while skin tones are impressively rich and lifelike. Mild noise is sprinkled across some darker shots and scenes but never becomes bothersome. The picture appears free of any other mild, never mind debilitating, source or encode flaws. The Photograph is nearly picture-perfect on Blu-ray.

The Photograph Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Photograph's sonic exposure comes by way of a highly proficient and very detailed DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack. The track is largely straightforward in terms of its content, focused on music, dialogue, and ambient effects as its primary sonic movers with little else of note, certainly no intense action elements or rumbling and rattling LFE output of which to speak. Those environmental elements offer the most diverse and interesting sound arrays, including quality background din -- winds, chatty pedestrians, other city details -- during a dialogue scene at the 16-minute mark. Numerous locations spring to life with impressively immersive and lifelike environmental detail, pulling the listener into several unique and audibly flavorful locations across both New York and Louisiana alike. Sound placement and total integration are excellent. Rain and thunder fall forebodingly in the background in chapter seven as a hurricane bears down, while in chapter eight the effect is heard a little more forcefully, blended with intense music. Music is also commanding and clear. Lively Jazz notes in chapter six in a New Orleans flashback come to life with vibrant detail and the picture's Jazzy soundtrack certainly serves as something of a sonic heartbeat. All notes are very well spaced, organically immersive through the backs, and supported by a balanced and true low end component. Dialogue is the other sonic centerpiece and it presents with commendably accurate clarity from a firm front-center location. Prioritization is always excellent even in the presence of dense din and dynamic music.

The Photograph Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Photograph contains three featurettes. A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Shooting The Photograph (1080p, 5:37): Discussing story origins and inspirations, the film's reflections on life, Stella Meghie's work as both writer and director, casting and performances, shooting locations, and more.
• Culture in Film (1080p, 3:48): Telling a familiar story from an African-American perspective.
• The Film Through Photographs (1080p, 2:24): Building Christina's story, exploring her work as a fictional photographer, and the photographer who shot the photos for the film.

The Photograph Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Photograph doesn't strive to reinvent the genre or cinema wheel. It's a comfortable genre snapshot that is put together with care and love from both sides of the camera. It's very well performed and flows quite well across both stories, though the secondary tale is of greater emotional draw and artistic interest. Universal's Blu-ray is of a high quality, delivering high yield picture and sound presentations. Extras are sparse in number and runtime but handle supplementary duty well enough. Recommended.