Loving

"Midway through 2016, Loving was THE based-on-a-true-story race-relations drama that had Oscar Winner written all over it. Guess the Academy didn’t receive that envelope. It’s a shame, because writer-director Jeff Nichols has made a worthy rise with the sombre Shotgun Stories, the frightening Take Shelter, the melodic Mud, and the concise Midnight Special. They’re vastly different films – as is Loving – but they all share a warmth and adoration for Southern America that has been a signature of Nichols’ work. He exhales that same romanticism here which, for better or worse, is the best quality of this film."

"It features two of the best American performances of the past several years, from Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga..."

"This is a thoughtful film, but one that's slightly limited by its own careful restraint."

"Short on grandstanding and hindsight, long on tenderness and honour, and sticks carefully to the historical record."

"Here is a film with its heart in the right place, an anatomical correctness coexisting with heartfelt, forthright conviction and an admirable belief in the virtue of simplicity and underplaying..."

"It's an important story of ground-breaking courage, but disappointingly LOVING doesn't do it justice"

"Puts a human face on racial intolerance and does so with plenty of heart."

"Nichols and his team have made Loving as accurate as they could without making it feel like a copy of reality or compromising its considerable emotional impact."

"Nichols has delivered a timely drama that, unlike most films of its type, doesn’t want to clobber you with its importance."

"The period detail here is good, but – given what we already know going in about American history in the Sixties – there’s an unavoidable lack of suspense."