Mission: Unfilmable

There are other actors worth watching here. As Denver, Elise has an ardent inquisitiveness, even in her early scenes, when the character appears to be almost as pathologically indrawn as Beloved. Later, when she ventures outside and lets herself expand, the bright sun upon her is matched by her glow from within. In smaller character parts, Beah Richards (as Baby Suggs, the mother of Sethe's long-absent husband Halle) and Irma P. Hall (as a community matron) really shine. What faces for the camera these women have! When they're onscreen we can't get enough of them. It's a jolting experience to be cut away from their closeups.

Beloved tries to be an anthem for the spirit, and that's just about the most difficult -- and unfilmable -- thing you can attempt in the movies. Demme stretches things out to epic length, but what was really needed here was an epic imagination.

Beloved.
Directed by Jonathan Demme. Written by Akosua Busia, Richard LaGravenese, and Adam Brooks. Based on the novel by Toni Morrison. Starring Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, and Kimberly Elise.