love jones movie review

Our Favorite Roger Reviews: Love Jones

In celebration of Roger Ebert , we are reprinting the favorite reviews and articles of our writers and other distinguished readers…

The reviews by Roger Ebert most dear to me are the one he did on Julie Dash’s film, “ Daughters of the Dust “, and the film “ Love Jones “, that I was also in. LOL! What made Roger Ebert’s film critiques so important for me, were the way he analyzed the entire production of a film in terms of the writing, the directing, the acting, the musical score, the cinematography, the editing, and how he synopsized that entire film experience for his viewers and readers. His delivery in how he expressed his critical views, was an art all unto itself!—Kahil El’Zabar

“LOVE JONES” review by Roger Ebert

originally published on March 14th, 1997

“Love Jones” is a love story set in the world of Chicago’s middle-class black artists and professionals–which is to say, it shows a world more unfamiliar to moviegoers than the far side of the moon. It is also frankly romantic and erotic and smart. This is the first movie in a while where the guy quotes Mozart, and the girl tells him he’s really thinking of Shaw.

The movie stars Nia Long as Nina, a professional photographer, and Larenz Tate as Darius, a novelist. After an opening montage of great black and white Chicago scenes (Nina’s photographs, we learn), they Meet Cute at the Sanctuary, a club inspired by the various venues around town for poetry slams, cool jazz and upscale dating. His moves are smooth: He meets her, walks to the mike, and retitles his poem “A Blues for Nina,” reading it to her across the smoky room. She likes that. “Maybe next week you’ll write something for me,” he says. They engage in flirt-talk. “There are other things than sex,” she tells him. Like what? he wants to know. She takes a pen and writes “love” on his wrist.

As their relationship develops, we see it in the context of the world they live in, a world of African-American artists, writers, teachers and intellectuals. The film’s writer-director, Theodore Witcher , says he wanted to suggest a modern Chicago version of the Harlem Renaissance, but this is the 1920s filtered through modern eyes, and some of the parties they attend have conversation that sounds like hip campus faculty talk.

The relationship between Darius and Nina proceeds, but not smoothly. Is it just a sex thing? They talk about that. She’s on the rebound from her last man, and tells Darius “the timing is bad,” but it starts looking pretty good. And their chemistry, as characters and actors, is hot. There’s a sensuous scene where they go to her place, and she loads her camera and tells him to strip, and shoots him while he’s teasing her. This nicely turns the gender tables on the famous “Blow Up” scene where the photographer made love through his camera.

Witcher’s screenplay is not content to move from A to B to love. There are hurt feelings and misunderstandings, and Nina goes to New York at one point to see her former finance and find out if there’s still life in their relationship. I didn’t buy that New York trip; it seemed clear to me that Darius was her love, and if she was merely testing him, why take a chance of losing a good thing? Darius starts seeing another woman, she starts dating his best friend, and a completely avoidable misunderstanding develops.

I felt frustrated, but I was happy to. When movie characters inspire my affection, so that I want them to stay together when they don’t, that shows the movie’s working. And there is a very nice sequence when they both end up at a party with other people, and see each other across the room, and are hurt.

These two characters are charismatic. There’s electricity when they go on a date to the weekly steppers’ball hosted by Herb Kent the Cool Gent, who plays himself. Steppin’ is a Chicago dance style that comes out of jitterbug, cooled down, and as we watch this scene we get that interesting feeling when a fiction film edges toward documentary and shows us something we haven’t seen before.

Nia Long and Larenz Tate are destined for more starring roles. They embody qualities we associate with Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington : They’re fresh, have a sense of humor, and are almost implausibly good-looking.

It’s hard to believe that Tate–so smooth, literate and attractive here–played the savage killer O-Dog in “ Menace II Society .” Nia Long was Brandi, one of the girl friends, in “ Boyz N the Hood .” “Love Jones” extends their range, to put it mildly.

Witcher has a good eye for locations. You can see Loop skyscrapers in the backgrounds of a lot of shots, so you know this is Chicago, but movies haven’t shown us these neighborhoods before. Scenes are set in Hyde Park, on the near North Side, and in between. As the characters move from coffee bars to record stores to restaurants to the Sanctuary, we realize how painfully limited the media vision of urban black life is. Why do the movies give us so many homeboys and gangstas and druggies and so few photographers, poets and teachers? The title is spelled all lower-case. That kind of typography was popular in avant garde circles from the 1920s through the 1950s, on everything from book covers to record album jackets. I think Witcher is trying to evoke the tone of that period when bohemia was still somewhat secret, when success was not measured only by sales, when fictional characters wrote novels instead of computer programs and futures contracts. There is also a bow to the unconventional in the ending of his film. Many love stories contrive to get their characters together at the end. This one contrives, not to keep them apart, but to bring them to a bittersweet awareness that is above simple love. Some audience members would probably prefer a romantic embrace in the sunset, as the music swells. But “Love Jones” is too smart for that.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Darius Lovehall is a young black poet in Chicago who starts dating Nina Mosley, a beautiful and talented photographer. While trying to figure out if they've got a "love thing" or are just "k... Read all Darius Lovehall is a young black poet in Chicago who starts dating Nina Mosley, a beautiful and talented photographer. While trying to figure out if they've got a "love thing" or are just "kicking it," they hang out with their friend, talking about love and sex. Then Nina tests t... Read all Darius Lovehall is a young black poet in Chicago who starts dating Nina Mosley, a beautiful and talented photographer. While trying to figure out if they've got a "love thing" or are just "kicking it," they hang out with their friend, talking about love and sex. Then Nina tests the strength of Darius' feelings and sets a chain of romantic complications into motion.

• Theodore Witcher
• Larenz Tate
• Isaiah Washington
• 40 User reviews
• 26 Critic reviews
• 65 Metascore
• 2 wins & 7 nominations

Top cast 33

• Darius Lovehall

• Nina Mosley

• Savon Garrison

• Josie Nichols

• Eddie Coles

• Sheila Downes
• (as Bernadette L. Clarke)

• Troy Garrison

• Roger Lievsey

• Model (Lievsey Studio)

• Lisa Martin
• Nina's Assistant

• Tracey Powell
• Percussionist

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia The role of Nina Mosley was originally written for Jada Pinkett Smith .
• Goofs Darius finds Nina's address from a personal check. In the next scene when Nina allows Darius to enter her home she tells him she's "Housesitting".

Darius Lovehall : Say, baby... can I be Your slave? I've got to admit girl you're the shit girl... and I'm digging you like a grave. Now, do they call you Daughter to the Spinning Pulsar... or maybe Queen of 10,000 moons? Sister to the Distant yet Rising Star? Is your name Yemaya? Oh, hell no. Its got to be Oshun. Oooh, is that a smile me put on your face, child... wide as a field of jasmine and clover? Talk that talk, honey. Walk that walk, money. High on legs that'll spite Jehovah. Shit. Who am I? It's not important. But me they call me brother to the night. And right now... I'm the blues in yourleft thigh... trying to become the funk in your right. Who am I? I'll be whoever you say? But right now I'm the sight-raped hunter... blindly pursuing you as my prey. And I just want to give you injections... of sublime erections... and get you to dance to my rhythm... make you dream archetypes... of black angels in flight... upon wings of distorted, contorted... metaphoric jizm. Come on slim. Fuck your man. I ain't worried about him. It's you who I want to step to my scene. 'cause rather the deal with the fallacy... of this dry-ass reality... I'd rather dance and romance your sweet ass in a wet dream. Who am I? Well, they call me Brother to the night. And right now I'm the blues in your left thigh... trying to become the funk in your right. Is that all right?

• Connections Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Return of the Jedi: Special Edition/Love Jones/The Godfather/City of Industry/Troublesome Creek/Mandela (1997)
• Soundtracks Hopeless Written by Van Hunt and Dionne Farris Performed by Dionne Farris Courtesy of Columbia Records

User reviews 40

Why isnt there an award for best ensemble.

• Mar 11, 2003
• How long is Love Jones? Powered by Alexa
• March 14, 1997 (United States)
• United States
• Absolut kärlek
• Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Addis Wechsler Pictures
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $10,000,000 (estimated)
• $12,479,335
• Mar 16, 1997
• $12,782,749

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 49 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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What it's about

In this romance from 1997, a photographer and a poet meet in an upscale nightclub in Chicago.

They quickly get together and connect on music, poetry, and photography, but Nina, the photographer, decides to go to New York to mend her relationship with her ex-fiance.

It’s so well-acted, funny, and because it’s been enough time that this has become noticeable, a great depiction of big-city life in the 90s. There is smoking inside, riding a motorcycle without helmets, and top-notch fashion.

The producers said they wanted to make “a contemporary film about African-American life that did not deal with guns and drugs,” and probably because they didn’t make compromises, the film was a commercial failure. In recent years, however, it has been quietly growing into a cult classic.

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Love Jones Reviews

"Love Jones" is so pretty to look at -- and listen to -- that its moldy story hardly matters.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 8, 2023

The question that comes to mind while watching "love jones" is, "What took Hollywood so long to make a film like this?"

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 8, 2023

Witcher makes a remarkably confident filmmaking debut, eliciting excellent performances from his leads and underscoring their romance with a soundtrack that flavors, rather than overwhelms, the story.

For a movie with so much talk, it has little to say. Love, we learn, is not easy. Point well taken. But most of us have found that out for ourselves.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 8, 2023

It certainly doesn’t hurt that Witcher has assembled a cast that is easy on the viewers’ eyes; a handsome lot of players who speak as hip as they dress, and strut, sulk, and flirt around the scenery with elegance.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | May 5, 2022

Starring budding luminaries such as Larenz Tate, Nia Long and Isaiah Washington, the power of Witcher’s film lies in its intelligence and simplicity -- a well-written, beautifully presented snap shot of 1990s Chicago.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 4, 2022

An eloquent and underseen ensemble dramedy, Love Jones receives a sparkling 4K transfer and a hearty helping of extras from the Criterion Collection.

Full Review | Apr 27, 2022

One of those films which grows in stature the more you think about it.

Full Review | Apr 22, 2022

We've seen this plot often before but it is something of an indictment of the movie industry that we haven't seen it played, at least not often, by black actors.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 22, 2022

The central romance is one you can get behind, the ultra-attractive leads are fine fantasy figures, and the world they inhabit is a seductive one in which it’s a pleasure to spend time.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2009

...even when the plot sags, the erotic moodiness of Love Jones remains fresh.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Dec 17, 2008

Larenz Tate, who played a homicidal in Menace II Spciety and haunted Vietnam vet in Dead Presidents, became an important transitional figure in the new black middle-class cinema, beginning this film, in which he's cast as a sophisticated and urbane man

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jan 24, 2007

Unfortunately, a relationship has to be pretty special if the couple are going to pair up thrice over.

Full Review | Jun 24, 2006

An uncommonly smart and insightful look at relationships while delivering the requisite laughs and romantic heat.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 18, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 10, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 20, 2003

love jones strives to be smart and sophisticated, which isn't exactly the same thing as intelligent ...

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Jan 23, 2003

It's not a particularly engaging movie.

Full Review | Feb 14, 2001

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 1, 2000

The two leads click throughout in a movie that's just good enough to engender curiosity over filmmaker Witcher's follow-up effort.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000

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Directed by Theodore Witcher

Get Together. Fall Apart. Start Over.

Darius Lovehall is a young black poet in Chicago who starts dating Nina Moseley, a beautiful and talented photographer. While trying to figure out if they've got a "love thing" or are just "kicking it," they hang out with their friends, talking about love and sex. Then Nina tests the strength of Darius' feelings and sets a chain of romantic complications into motion.

Larenz Tate Nia Long Isaiah Washington Bill Bellamy Lisa Nicole Carson Marie-Françoise Theodore Khalil Kain Leonard Roberts Bernadette Speakes

Director Director

Theodore Witcher

Producers Producers

Nick Wechsler Jeremiah Samuels

Writer Writer

Editor editor, cinematography cinematography.

Ernest Holzman

Title Design Title Design

Stunts stunts.

Linda Perlin

Composers Composers

Darryl Jones Wyclef Jean

Sound Sound

Larry Blake

Costume Design Costume Design

Shawn Barton

New Line Cinema Addis Wechsler Pictures

Releases by Date

14 mar 1997, releases by country.

• Theatrical R

108 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Brian Formo ★★★★ 3

“Romance is about the possibility of the thing. You see, it's about the time between when you first meet the woman, and when you first make love to her; When you first ask a woman to marry you, and when she says I do. When people who been together a long time say that the romance is gone, what they're really saying is they've exhausted the possibility.”

Love Jones is often cited as one of the most egregious examples of 90s Hollywood failing black filmmakers. It’s also brought up by black audiences and actors as one of the best love stories of the 90s and it sure as shit is. That Theodore Witcher never made another movie despite all the…

Review by Ayo Edebiri ★★★★½

I cry I cry I cry! www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/movies/black-directors-1990s.html

Review by ✨PinkMcflurry (Danya)✨ ★★★½

Quarantine Priority Watchlist 

I swear that black love be hitting different. Although I wanted more love scenes and scenes of them getting to know each other I still enjoyed this. The chemistry between the entire cast was *chefs kiss*   Reminded me of me and my friend group.

Review by francesca ★★★★

everyone in this film is so attractive and charming by the end i felt like i could vibrate through walls

Review by Paul ★★★★½

Physics, this shit ain’t. It ain’t supposed to make sense. Love, passion…it is what is.

I feel so weird giving this the highest rating out of all my moots but it feels right! I definitely wasn’t expecting to love this movie as much as I did but wow. The characters feel so full, their actions feel so realistic and the soundtrack goes crazy. The movie is beautiful and the writing feels so thoughtful throughout the movie. So much cast chemistry here. Such a great way to start Black History Month AND get ready for Valentines Day. This also might be one of my all time favorites after a rewatch. Theodore Witcher can you PLEASE make another movie I’m begging you

Review by cleansing my soul of addiction🦋 ★★★★ 1

keep likin my letterboxd reviews we gon end up like this🥴

Review by AS4488 ★★★★★

These people felt so real and the chemistry between the whole cast is off the walls. The poetry in this is beautiful.

Review by olivia ★★★★ 2

exceptional, beautiful, artistic, intelligent, and both a mundane and extraordinary expression of love at the same time, which is something special to achieve. i wish i had watched this years ago. i should really wade into my netflix list more often. what a great film. 

( top favorite first watches of 2021 )

Review by JayLee248 ★★½ 7

Love Jones is such a odd case for me. I recommend seeing this movie for anyone who is curious even though I expected more. Love Jones disappointed me because it was far from the super romantic movie that is associated with it. I wouldn’t call they’re relationship toxic but it is dysfunctional as hell. I’m happy they’re relationship isn’t on The Notebook’s level but it’s still bad.

For one Larenz Tate came off as a major creep. Bro has no game in this movie once so ever. His tactics for getting Nia Long’s character is wild and the bad part is that it worked. Nia long usually stands out in every movie she’s in. Even if it’s a small role…

Review by Jerry McGlothlin ★★★½ 3

Spirits skip tracing through pouring rain; drops like amulets—a weary heart’s incantation. It falls slow and rhythmic as poetry, paregoric, but just as the greatest verses can soothe, so, too, they sometimes sadden. In bodies bracing for long nights, no distance can divide; no differences distend. Love seeming just out of reach, r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ not quite on time. Maybe for the moment…

Review by lex ★★★★★

falling in love after the first link!

Review by sam 1

every single leather jacket in chicago was sourced for this movie

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Love Jones Review

27 Jun 1997

109 minutes

The surprise hit of that indie Mecca the Sundance Film Festival, this would have been lost among dozens of other smartly scripted, style-on-a-shoestring features had it not been for the fact that it's about the kind of African-American Bohemians who usually dwell on the fringes of Whit Stillman movies.

This is a bold new direction for Black American cinema. There's not a homeboy in sight, not a single rap anthem on the soundtrack, and no one gets blown away in the midst of a hopeless crime. Instead we get jazz poetry clubs, arty monochrome photos, discussions about the meaning of life and dialogue almost totally devoid of the F-word.

At the centre of this cosy paradise are Darius (a live-mike poet who's writing a novel - Tate) and Nina (a photographer who's gone off men - Long). Naturally, the path to true love is strewn with the kind of rows and separations that only ever happen in films because movie people never provide or listen to the explanations that would end a misunderstanding in five seconds flat. But where's the fun in that?

Tate and Long gel beautifully, but all the performances have a relaxed assurance that stands in stark contrast to the aggressive delivery of much New Black Cinema. Witcher makes the most of a misty, wet Chicago and outdoes himself with a wonderful "sleep on the sofa" scene.

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Love Jones (1997)

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• Play Trailer

Get Together. Fall Apart. Start Over.

Darius Lovehall is a young black poet in Chicago who starts dating Nina Moseley, a beautiful and talented photographer. While trying to figure out if they've got a "love thing" or are just "kicking it," they hang out with their friends, talking about love and sex. Then Nina tests the strength of Darius' feelings and sets a chain of romantic complications into motion.

Theodore Witcher

Director, Writer

Top Billed Cast

Larenz Tate

Darius Lovehall

Nina Mosley

Isaiah Washington

Savon Garrison

Bill Bellamy

Lisa Nicole Carson

Josie Nichols

Marie-Françoise Theodore

Tracey Powell

Khalil Kain

Leonard Roberts

Eddie Coles

Bernadette Speakes

Sheila Downes

Full Cast & Crew

• Discussions 0

A review by GenerationofSwine

Written by generationofswine on january 14, 2023.

I'm sorry. I heard about it on the radio and decided to give it a watch...but I am sorry, I just don't get it.

I kind of want to relate it to movies like 12 Angry Men and other dialogue driven flicks...Fall from I think the same year...but this was just...bland.

What you have here are people sitting around talking about sex. You have people walking around talking about their relationship.

Before Sunrise did kind of the same thing, but throughout you had the feeling of love that would be lost. This didn't really pull off that emotion.

It also didn't pull off the tension in many other... read the rest.

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Status Released

Original Language English

Budget $10,000,000.00

Revenue $12,782,749.00

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Love Jones (1997)

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On Love Jones , One of the Best Romance Movies of All Time

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“They all call me brother to the night and right now I am the blues in your left thigh, trying to be the funk in your right—is that alright?”

Each time I watch that introductory scene from Love Jones —the one where Darius (Larenz Tate) steps to the stage at an open mic just moments after meeting Nina (Nia Long) at a Chicago lounge—my heart, my mind, and my body respond with an affirmative. The 1997 film, about a poet and a photographer who fall in love, has smile-inducing, heart-fluttering capabilities that have made it my go-to for rainy days at home, date nights in, and those moments when nostalgia calls for a sweet fix that’s been tested with time.

Though it’s been more than two decades since the movie hit theaters, I still recite its lines as if it opened yesterday. Along with other notable ’90s films , it transports me to an era when life was good, music was soul-stirring, and it wasn’t uncommon to see Black love on screen . Today Love Jones is regarded as a Black cult classic, and with good reason. The film, written and directed by Theodore Witcher, emits good vibes through perfectly written dialogue, directing, and acting from Tate and Long that transcends the screen.

Darius and Nina’s love story is not original, but that’s what makes it so good. It’s relatable, real, and complicated, with just enough buildups and letdowns sparsed throughout that you’re all in on how the story ends. Witcher’s decision to make the main characters creatives (writer and photographer, respectively) in an eclectic city like Chicago further layers the “guy meets girl, girl falls for guy, things go left, and love gets put to the test” storyline that hopeless romantics like me live for. Add in a few witty friends, a shady character, and a toxic ex, and it’s one of the best romance movies of all time.

Watching Nina and Darius fall in love is like playing back the first few weeks—months if you’re lucky—of a new relationship over and over again. That introductory phase when butterflies abound, phone alerts feel like gold, and being in that special someone’s company is enough to conjure up dreams of eloping. But what’s equally as beautiful as watching their romance come together is the way in which their deep connection helps paint a portrait of Chicago that doesn’t rely on the suffering of Black souls. Instead, it involves the spirit of our humanity and the depths at which we love.

As insignificant as a movie may seem, their story, with its imperfections, offers hope that true connections can exist and happy endings aren’t simply fantasy. These two characters perfected the situationship before we knew the word. And from their ability to maneuver the low points, viewers are given a stirring example of the “if you love it, let it go” cliché.

I’ve watched Love Jones countless times. And still when Nina leaves the Windy City to reconnect with her ex, I’m crushed. When she returns to the Chi after giving it an unsuccessful go, my heart crumbles at the fact that she and Darius couldn’t instantly get back together. And just when my emotions have taken all they can, I’m reminded that love isn’t always a losing game. My smile returns, my heart flutters, and my mood is lifted. 

If there were ever a perfect Valentine’s Day movie, this is it. Beautiful in its portrayal, exciting in the hope it brings, and perfectly flawed—just like true love.

Love Jones is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video .

Tanya Christian is a writer and editor based in New York City. Follow her on Twitter @tanyaachristian .

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Love Jones Reviews

• 65   Metascore
• 1 hr 50 mins
• Drama, Comedy
• Watchlist Where to Watch

After a romantic evening together, writer Darius Lovehall (Larenz Tate) and photographer Nina Mosley (Nia Long) end up chasing each other back and forth from New York to Chicago, through the ups and downs of their respective love lives and careers. Isaiah Washington, Lisa Nicole Carson, Khalil Kain, Leonard Roberts, Bernadette L. Clarke, Bill Bellamy.

Sexy and soulful like the smoothest slow jam, writer-director Theodore Witcher's debut feature is a classy, surprisingly accomplished romantic comedy focusing on life and love among of a group of young African-American Chicagoans. Nina (Nia Long) is an aspiring photographer who's nursing her wounds after being dumped by her fiance. Darius (Larenz Tate) is an aspiring novelist with a cool lothario pose that saves him from ever having to form a meaningful relationship. When they hook up, it's more than just great sex: It's the dreaded love jones, which neither one is willing to admit. Witcher's film is really a very simple story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl (repeatedly), boy gets girl. But it's refreshingly free of the broad racial stereotypes that define the BOOTY CALL/PHAT BEACH/THIN LINE BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE school of raunchy romantic comedy, and the fact that it's as much her story as it is his boosts this one a notch or two above the merely conventional. Stylishly photographed (with a thin layer of South Side Chicago grit beneath the glossy exterior) and graced with an appealing supporting cast that includes Isaiah Washington, Lisa Nicole Carson and MTV's Bill Bellamy, this just may be this season's perfect date movie.

Redeeming Culture

Love jones (1997) & the photograph (2020): the value of words, the settings, the romance, the writing.

“Romance is about the possibility of the thing. You see, it’s about the time between when you first meet the woman, and when you first make love to her; When you first ask a woman to marry you, and when she says I do. When people who been together a long time say that the romance is gone, what they’re really saying is they’ve exhausted the possibility.”

The Photograph and Love Jones operate with the language of those infinite possibilities. Love Jones has its core of poetry and The Photograph has its mystery of visual arts. Nothing in either love story feels telegraphed toward a foregone conclusion. There’s no magical switch for a line of “I love you” to change everything. Love Jones doesn’t use that sentence until the very end, and, in even more forthright fashion, The Photograph doesn’t say it at all.  Both writers knew that more words have value than just the big L one. For both movies to unabashedly mold and earn beautiful stories of black love without any instant need for that kind of manufactured swell is truly something special. Don Shanahan  is a Chicago-based and Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson . His movie review work is also published on 25YL (25 Years Later) and also on Medium.com for the MovieTime Guru publication.  As an educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical. He is a proud director and one of the founders of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle and a member of the nationally-recognized Online Film Critics Society .

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• Blu-ray edition reviewed by Chris Galloway
• June 07 2022

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Steeped in the bohemian cool of Chicago’s 1990s Black creative scene,  love jones— the smart, sexy, and stylish debut feature of writer-director Theodore Witcher—is a love story for anyone who has ever wondered: How do I know when I’ve found the one? Larenz Tate and Nia Long have magnetism and chemistry to burn as the striving, artistically talented twentysomethings—he’s a poet, she’s a photographer—who spark over their love of literature and jazz, but whose mutual reluctance to commit to a relationship leaves them both navigating an emotional minefield of confusion, jealousy, and regrets. Velvety cinematography; an unforgettable, eclectic soundtrack; sophisticated dialogue; and refreshingly low-key, naturalistic performances by an ensemble cast that also includes Isaiah Washington, Lisa Nicole Carson, Bill Bellamy, Bernadette Speakes, and Leonard Roberts come together in an intoxicating, seductively moody romance that engages both the heart and the mind.

Picture 9/10

The Criterion Collection presents Theodore Witcher’s love jones on Blu-ray, delivering the film in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on a dual-layer disc. The new 1080p/24hz high-definition presentation is sourced from a new 4K restoration. The 35mm original A/B negatives were the source for the scan.

I wasn’t sure what to expect for this late 90’s film but the end high-definition presentation is nothing short of exceptional. The film is a character focused romance film, an attentive one, but fairly straight forward. Yet it still features a surprising visual flair that is all the more impressive when one considers the film is, criminally, the lone feature Witcher has directed. Witcher is very astute in his use of colour and shadows, a topic he talks about extensively in the included commentary, and this all is delivered in a stunning manner. Reds, blues, violets, and greens, all of it is elegantly saturated, bold and vivid, leaping off the screen. Highlights also look great and details don’t get eaten up too badly.

Another impressive aspect is how wonderfully the film’s grain ends up being rendered. As Witcher also mentions in the included commentary he did not want a grainy looking film, but he realized that, as the film is developed and prints are made, degradation in quality is all-but-guaranteed, and the image would get grainier in the process. This led to him looking into a combination of lighting and film stock that would allow him to keep the grain levels low and fine. With this presentation working directly off of the negatives what we get is a picture with a very fine yet very clean grain structure, the scan having picked it up all beautifully while Criterion’s encode, somewhat surprisingly, does an incredible job rendering it. The picture looks so sharp and clean, the grain barely registering, but it’s there, and this, in turn, leads to an exceptional level of detail.

I was also very impressed with the range present in the picture, a lot of the film taking place at night or dim interiors with limited light sources. Black levels can get a little heavy in places, flattening things out here and there, but on the whole there is an unbelievable level of detail present in the shadows with clean, subtle gradients. One of the most impressive moments in the film comes around a scene where the two are walking around a fountain during a foggy evening. On top of the fact that the encode renders this fog perfectly, no noise or banding present, the light also naturally disperses through it without a hitch and the end results look about as pure and photographic as you could hope. Interestingly, Witcher does not like the scene because he hadn’t planned on the fog, but due to time restrictions he had to shoot the film as is. I get where he’s coming from; when things don’t turn out exactly the way I want I’m rarely pleased about it. But it’s one of those things the likes of Bob Ross would have called a “happy little accident” and it really is a lovely looking scene and it is presented here in near-perfect manner.

All told, it’s an incredible shame this isn’t getting a 4K release as I could see a UHD, with a good HDR grading, being an absolute knockout. But as it is here it’s still a stunner of a presentation, one of Criterion’s better ones in recent memory.

Criterion presents the film with a lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround soundtrack. Dialogue and background effects are focused primarily to the fronts, panning present when called for, but it all sounds sharp and clean with excellent dynamic range and fidelity. The surrounds also pick up a few background effects, including in clubs or public settings, but they mostly kick in to handle the songs that appear throughout. Audio overall is sharp and crisp and incredibly clean, no damage present.

Extras 10/10

On top of a stellar presentation Criterion has also put together an impressive special edition for the film, packing on some great features. Those features include an audio commentary by Witcher himself, one that may take the award for being one of the best director commentaries I’ve listened to in recent memory. Witcher of course talks about the film’s inspirations and what he was aiming to accomplish with the end product, getting into the filmmakers that inspired him including the likes of Woody Allen (the opening directly inspired by Manhattan ) and Robert Altman (overlapping dialogue being one of the takeaways). Bertrand Tavernier’s ‘Round Midnight even makes its way in there. Moreover, he delves deeply into just about every aspect of the production, from how he accomplished the film’s look to the jazz-infused score, and he even gets into test screenings and the alterations that came from those, one of which, to Witcher's amusement, involved audiences having issues around one character standing freely in the rain instead of looking for cover. But the moments I wasmost taken by was the ones where he seems to be reassessing some of his decisions or where he expresses regrets, whether it be cutting a story point or not getting that exact shot he wanted.

Another aspect I liked is where he recalls his experience as a first-time feature film director, explaining the growing pains around it and what it was like working with a studio like New Line, who appear to have left him alone for the most part. It’s this material that up-and-coming filmmakers may find most interesting since Witcher explains those unexpected issues that come up. There’s a lot of examples but one I found interesting is his explaining how the film ran too long and the studio, in one of the few times they sound to have stepped in, insisted on shortening the picture. Witcher explains how he accomplished this, but it involved cutting out a subplot around one character sending another character a letter that would end up getting lost, but due to some of the set-up being present in scenes that were otherwise needed, remnants of it can still be found within the film. In this case, there’s a sequence remaining where the future recipient is calling the post office about mail being stolen, and it was here where this whole subplot was first being set-up. But since it was part of a sequence that was needed for the main plot, it couldn’t be cut. It’s here where Witcher explains why it ends up working out, and it’s stuff like this that gives the track a real “film school” quality that excels it above other director commentary tracks. It’salso all the more impressive because Witcher is able to recall so much about the film 25 years later.

Honestly, if that track was the only extra on here it would have still made for an exceptional special edition but Criterion packs in more worthwhile content including a new interview between Witcher and film scholar Racquel J. Gates , running a lengthy 44-minutes. This is another great discussion where Witcher, impressively, manages to throw in some new stories and thoughts around the film that don't come up in the commentary, while Gates explains the impact the film has had on her and others, and how that has led to a lasting legacy that was unforeseen after the film initially bombed.  Witcher talks a little more about the casting, particularly around Larenz Tate, Witcher shocked to learn the actor was nothing like the character he played in Menace II Society (he had thought they had literally just pulled some psycho off of the street), and then he touches on controversial aspects of the story, including where it appears Tate’s character is stalking Nia Long’s early on. But I ended up being most fascinated around Witcher’s answer to Gates’ question around what he would change if he made the film today, leading to a discussion on what was needed, at least at the time the film was made, to make a talky “low stakes” film work with audiences. Similar to the commentary, as they get into structural elements and the film’s humour, the interview ends up adding yet another “film school” like layer to the release’s batch of features. (Also worth noting, Witcher recalls his first gig in Hollywood as a writer for a Hughes Brothers feature from which he was eventually “fired.” He doesn’t mention what that project was but looking it up it appears to have been a film called Public Enemies , which was never finished.)

Criterion next includes a new interview between music scholars Mark Anthony Neal and Shana L. Redmond , who take the time to discuss the film’s soundtrack, with a focus on Lauryn Hill and how the music appropriately accompanies their respective moments in the film. Also here is footage from a 2017 panel discussion following a screening of the film, featuring Witcher, actors Nia Long, Larenz Tate, Isaiah Washington, Lisa Nicole Carson, Bill Bellamy, and other members of the crew, with director Barry Jenkins moderating. Here the cast and crew share stories around the production and talk about the film’s legacy. Funnily enough, Washington points out one scene he feels was a mistake, the same scene Witcher also points out as a mistake elsewhere on the disc’s features. The panel discussion runs around 58-minutes.

The disc then features a 5-minute making-of featurette made around the time of the film’s release and is nothing more than a promotional piece. The included insert then closes things off with an insightful and lengthy essay on the film, written by critic Danielle Amir Jackson.

Altogether it may not look like a lot of material but, save for the archival production featurette, it’s all high-quality content and worth the effort of working through, especially Witcher’s excellent commentary.

The title just kind of snuck in there on Criterion’s schedule but it’s one of their best releases so far this year.

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“Love Jones” Is the Perfect Fall Film

By juliana ukiomogbe, october 1, 2020.

Darius Lovehall (Larenz Tate) and Nina Mosley (Nia Long), Love Jones , dir. by Theodore Witcher, 1997.

“Into” is a series dedicated to objects, artworks, garments, exhibitions, and the things that we are into—and there really isn’t a lot more to it than that. This week: Editorial Assistant Juliana Ukiomogbe reminisces about the quintessential fall movie, 1997’s Love Jones.

October is here, which means that fall is in full swing. While we’d usually be prepping for all the outdoor festivities that come along with the season, most of us are tasked with creating our own autumn vibe from home. As the weather changes and the year (finally) winds to a close, I’ve been thinking about what movie reminds me of fall. The 1997 cult classic Love Jones  hits all the marks . Written and directed by Theodore Witcher (who has sadly never directed another film since), the film follows a photographer named Nina Moseley (Nia Long) and writer Darius Lovehall (Larenz Tate) as they fall in love amidst Chicago’s jazz and poetry scene. The film is able to transcend the standard romantic comedy formula by crafting a specific world where Darius and Nina’s love can blossom. With foggy weather, John Coltrane, and cardigans abound, this movie always puts me in a sentimental mood.

This time of year is all about atmosphere and aesthetic, which this film has a lot of. Every sequence is so cool and sleek, each scene serves as its own picturesque snapshot. The fashion, from trench coats and turtlenecks to oversized hoodies and cashmere, makes you want to dress for the season—even if it’s just for your own at-home pleasure. The film is also a ’90s time capsule, chock-full of natural face, classic brown lipstick, and heavy lip liner. The movie isn’t only visually warm and charming, but also sonically. Generally speaking, movie soundtracks don’t hit the way they used to. The music here serves as the heartbeat of the film, with Darius and Nina bonding over The Isley Brothers and Al Green at a local record store as their relationship begins to grow. “In A Sentimental Mood” by Duke Ellington and John Coltrane serves as one of the catalysts for their budding love. Can you get any more romantic and tender than jazz?

Witcher is masterful in his ability to create a very specific world for these characters to thrive in. Every detail, from the clothes to the music, makes Love Jones a romantic experience. Of course Darius and Nina meet at a jazz club, because where else? Watching Love Jones is necessary when I want to escape reality and ease into tenderness. Early in the film, Darius makes the claim: “Romance is about the possibility of things,” he says. “When people that have been together for a long time say the romance is gone, what they’re really saying is that they’ve exhausted the possibility.” Love Jones  makes you want to go out and fall in love, even if it’s just with the possibility. 

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‘The Brutalist’ Star Felicity Jones Hails the ‘Incredible Love Story’ at the Center of Brady Corbet’s Epic

Kate erbland, editorial director.

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Even with its theatrical release date nearly two months off — December 20, for those keeping track — Brady Corbet’s massive epic “The Brutalist” has already stirred up plenty of interest, much of it piqued by its sprawling running time ( 215 minutes, including a baked-in 15-minute intermission ) and massive VistaVision film format.

“ Really heavy,” she said with a laugh when asked about the hefty screenplay in the discussion, moderated by yours truly. “It was very heavy, and very well-written. The script didn’t change from the moment Brady and [co-writer] Mona Fastvold first wrote it, through to the draft that we performed, which was two years later. Almost every word was identical. And from the moment [I first read] it, I just thought, ‘This is excellent, and [it’s] so rare to read something so engaging, not only engaging, but so incredibly deliciously ambitious.'” Related Stories The Weeknd’s Film from Director Trey Edward Shults Gets a Title and a Distributor ‘Blitz’: Steve McQueen Turns the Harrowing German Aerial Assault on London Into a Social Realist Fable

The tale of a Holocaust survivor ( Adrien Brody, in a lauded performance ) who sacrifices nearly everything to achieve his dreams of bringing Brutalist architecture to his new American home is stuffed with big ideas and bigger execution. Corbet doesn’t skimp on the emotion. For Jones, who plays Brody’s character’s wife, Erzsébet, that’s what was most intriguing for her.

“I think, at the heart of it, there is an incredible love story,” Jones said. “That keeps you engaged throughout the whole film. [When] it comes to playing Erzsébet, I thought it was intriguing, this idea that this character doesn’t appear until halfway through the film. That was quite a challenge in some ways. And then, thinking more about it, I realized actually she is very much present in the beginning of the film, she is there in László. She informs so much of his journey in that first half.”

“Very much the idea is that, the way that László is waiting, Brady wants the audience to be waiting in the same way, so that when these women arrive, you’re really expecting and anticipating their arrival,” Jones said.

It’s a moment that doesn’t disappoint, as we finally see the woman whose love is often the only thing keeping László together. For Jones, that meant viewing her character as being almost out of this world, landed back on Earth to finally save (if she can) her haunted husband.

“There is almost something quite otherworldly about her,” Jones said. “I always thought of her as being two feet above the ground, … through her trauma, she’s almost disassociated from her physical being. Not that it’s as far as being supernatural, but there’s a definite otherness about her that I found incredibly engaging.”

An A24 release, “ The Brutalist ” hits select theaters on Friday, December 20.

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