I have loved seeing Lakeith Stanfield showing up in so many things after his great turn in Get Out including the crazy brilliant film Sorry To Bother You and more recently Knives Out. Now he is teaming up with Issa Rae, who has been on a roll herself with the TV series Insecure, the film Little and the upcoming feature The Lovebirds for their new film The Photograph that co-stars Chelsea Peretti, and Lil Rel Howery. Could this love story bring something new to the genre or will it fail to develop?

​

The Photograph follows the story of a young woman Mae, whose mother, a famed photographer, passes away and leaves her with tons of unanswered questions. In her journey to finding out more about her own origins, Mae stumbles upon not only a letter and photos her mother left behind, but also an unexpected and powerful romance with an up and coming journalist. I must admit I had very little interest in this film despite liking the cast. I just felt it looked like more of the same drama romance flicks and while I wasn’t wrong there was something to it that made it work better than I thought it might otherwise.

 

The story is told through multiple story arcs and timelines. There is the story of Mae’s mother, her own and that of the writer that brings it all together. This makes for an interesting story that keeps you more intrigued despite it still being pretty predictable. I think there were some elements that they had hoped were plot twists, but I thought they were pretty obvious. This doesn’t hurt the film it just gives it a more by the numbers feel at times and in turn makes it lose some of the punch of what it might have had otherwise.

 

Both Rae and Stanfield do a good job and have some great chemistry. You have to buy into the struggles and passion of their relationship for this to work and it does. Both of them bring the emotional passion to their respected stories and each other that makes you want to see where they will end up despite already knowing. Decide for yourself and join the journey of this photograph that is so much more than just a simple picture.

​

This release not only includes the film, but bonus content including interviews and featurettes taking you behind bringing this story to life. Grab your copy of The Photograph available now on digital, Blu-ray and DVD from Universal Home Entertainment.