Between the World and Me

Coates' writing packs clarity into its lyricism, and at just shy of an hour and 20 minutes Forbes' film honors the book's relative economy while enriching every frame with poignance, augmented by Bradford Young's arresting cinematography. ... The result is magnificently solemn and essentially American.

Between The World And Me is not some hopeful, optimistic assessment of what’s to become of this country or the Black people who built it. Instead, Coates, through Forbes’ lens, offers the truth.

Haunting and poetic.

The TV adaptation is a worthy screen translation of Coates’ monumental work, with archival footage, original animation and hip-hop tracks lending historical and emotional texture to the author’s words.

There’s something lost in this translation between page and screen that depends upon this many performers; their interpretations are still powerful, but immediately more scattered, and it’s hard not to wonder if a more pared down version might have been even more effective. And yet it’s even harder to imagine which speakers should get cut, as nearly all convincingly ground themselves in the material.

Sometimes the material is too busy for its own good, with the supplemental images fighting for dominance when the words are more than enough to carry the feeling. But when it fires on all cylinders, this is a very effective, powerful companion piece to its source.

Beautifully done, but ultimately overdone. The book is better.