Barack And Michelle Obama's Love Story Told In ‘Southside With You;' Initial Reviews Released!
Richard Tanne's drama 'Southside With You' showcases the love story of America's first couple, Barack and Michelle Obama. The film has made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday.
It chronicles the story behind the couple who are considered to be the most powerful husband and wife in America. It showed some personal details about their relationship, like what they did on their first date together.
The film is directed by Richard Tanne. Alongside him was cinematographer Patrick Scola. The cast members include Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers as The Obamas.
"Ultimately, I wanted to see someone who looked like me falling in love up there and I think everybody can relate to that. ... It's not Republican, Democrat or anything else. It's just a love story," Sumpter, who also co-produced the film, told ABC News.
"Just the perspective - not seeing these two as we see them now, but from before," she added. "It started because I was just inspired by the love story ... and I wanted to see that kind of love up there. It's not the normal rom-com. It's real conversations of what might have been said."
The love story begins with Barack Obama, a summer associate, trying to woo a second-year associate Michelle, into a day-long date with him.
The movie portrays an accurate view of the couple's first time together on that day. His research consisted of articles and other materials that gave details on their first date.
The film follows the trend of Richard Linklater's 'Before' trilogy and takes inspiration from it. It showcases all the events on that eventful day of 1989 when the Obamas first visited the Art Institute of Chicago, Ate a Picnic lunch together and watched a movie, Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing." It followed a single day's conversation between the two.
The movie begins on the morning of their first date. While Michelle had been considering it as a simple meeting with one of her colleagues, Barack makes it clear that he preferred it to be nothing less than an official first date. Though she considers that it is unprofessional to have a romantic relationship with her colleague, she maintains that it is not a date and still agrees to accompany him to an art museum and walk with him through a park until afternoon.
"The conversation between the two covers plenty of ground, from religion to aspirations to Barack's complicated relationship with his father," wrote Adam Chitwood of Collider. "The dialogues are at times strained and inelegant as certain topics feel unnatural, arising only because they have significance to the Obamas' later life."
"What really makes the film, though, is the performances of Sumpter and Sawyers," he added. "They transcend simple impressions and manifest as three-dimensional characters."
"Southside With You" has received positive reviews from Vanity Fair and Entertainment Weekly.
