A mother is forced into action in Till, the latest from co-writer/director Chinonye Chukwu.
Unfortunately, we all know the story of her son. 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched in 1955 while visiting his family in Mississippi, and his mother decided to leave his casket open for the world to see. It was a bold decision, one that made her son an infamous victim of a hate crime, but it would, eventually, do much to prevent it from happening again. Bringing about such a change took a lot of work from Mamie Till-Mobley, which is what this film chronicles.
The film will have to dance around a lot of upsetting material, but that won’t be a new task for Chukwu. She previously directed the excellent Clemency, which dealt with the long-term affects of being a prison warden where inmates are executed. She managed to make the pressures and horrors of that digestible, and she’ll need to do the same with this real-life horror.
Staring as Mamie is Danielle Deadwyler, who impressed recently in The Harder They Fall and Station Eleven. Co-starring with her is Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison, and Haley Bennett.
This is a tough piece of history, but by focusing on the work of Emmett’s mother the film will dramatize a different side of the story.
Till is directed by Chinonye Chukwu and stars Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison, and Haley Bennett. It will be released in the US on October 22nd, 2022 and in the UK on January 13th, 2023. For international release dates, click here.
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