Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield find themselves falling in love in the trailer for Stella Meghie's upcoming romantic drama, The Photograph. Both of the film's leads have enjoyed success on the big and small screen alike in recent years, between Rae co-creating and starring in HBO's Insecure and Stanfield playing Darius on FX's Atlanta, in addition to their roles in acclaimed movies like The Hate U Give and Sorry to Bother You. They're far from the only notable actors in The Photograph's cast either, what with Courtney B. Vance, Chelsea Peretti, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Luce, Waves) playing supporting roles.
The Photograph was written and directed by Meghie (Everything, Everything) and stars Rae as Mae Morton, the estranged daughter of famed photographer Christina Eames. When her mother suddenly passes away, Mae ends up on a journey to learn more about Christina's life, and finds herself in a romance with Michael Block (Stanfield), a journalist who's writing an article about Christina, along the way. The rom-drama is slated to arrive over (when else?) Valentine's Day weekend next year, which is why Universal is getting its marketing up and started this month.
Universal has now released the official trailer for The Photograph online, ahead of its debut in theaters over the weeks ahead. You can check it out in the space below, followed by the movie's new poster.
Judging by the trailer, Rae and Stanfield have pretty good chemistry in The Photograph, and their onscreen romance is all the more convincing for it. The preview also hints at the film's narrative structure, which appears to hop back and forth in time in order to juxtapose Christina's early love life with that of her grown-up daughter, several decades later. Beyond that, though, it doesn't dive all that deeply into the conflict at the heart of The Photograph, which involves Mae finding a, well, photograph kept locked away by her late mother in a safe-deposit box. This is the same discovery that spurs her on to uncover the truth about Christina, in the hopes of forgiving her for her shortcomings and learning from her missteps.
As far as Valentine's Day viewing options go, The Photograph definitely has potential, and seems to offer a little extra substance to go with its love story. It shouldn't have much trouble standing out from the crowd that weekend either, with its opening weekend competition including the live-action/CGI Sonic the Hedgehog and the Kingsman prequel The King's Man. With a little luck, then, The Photograph could give Rae and Stanfield another strong addition to their larger body of recent work.
Source: Universal