Holder debuts ‘Love, Brooklyn’

Cinema | March 31st, 2025

By Greg Carlson

Making her feature directorial debut, Rachael Abigail Holder guides “Love, Brooklyn” to a satisfying conclusion, even if some viewers might have hoped for a different outcome for the central trio. A carefully observed romance that attempts to frame its title borough with the same kind of affection that Woody Allen applied to mythologize his favorite parts of NYC in 1979, the movie places a charismatic Andre Holland at the center of a love triangle involving Nicole Beharie and DeWanda Wise. But Brooklyn itself becomes an equally vital character courtesy of Paul Zimmerman’s solid script. A breathing, evolving, and mercurial presence that excites and infuriates its inhabitants, the diverse community is centralized by Holder’s direction, Zimmerman’s writing and the beautiful photography of Martim Vian.

Holland’s writer Roger has been assigned to complete an in-depth essay on the gentrification of his beloved Brooklyn, a topic confronting Beharie’s Casey on a daily basis. As the owner of an art gallery, Casey fends off attractive and tempting offers to sell her space to deep-pocketed developers. Roger and Casey remain close, despite having split up. Their easy rapport and unwillingness to close off the possibility of rekindling their partnership complicates Roger’s initially casual courtship of Wise’s widow (and now single mother) Nicole. Holder smoothly keeps all the balls in the air, refusing to break a sweat by honoring Roger’s choices —even when he makes questionable ones.

As Nicole’s daughter Ally (Cadence Reese) gets close to Roger, alarm bells ring over the impact of a father figure who may not be completely committed to a long term relationship. “Love, Brooklyn” often turns to conversation as the means to work through conflict, and the actors all behave with recognizable concern for themselves and those in their lives. Following the movie’s world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where “Love, Brooklyn” screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, a few critics questioned whether there was too much fantasy in the mix: beautiful people with glamorous jobs, handsome dwellings and no stress over income, etc.

That kind of criticism, frequently leveled at studio films dating all the way back at least to the birth of the romantic comedy tradition established by architects like Ernst Lubitsch, is misplaced. “Love, Brooklyn” doesn’t have (or require) the Lubitsch Touch, nor is it what I would describe as a romantic comedy, despite the presence of warmth and humor. Sure, the triangle is as tried and true a device as ever propelled a story, but this movie is serious without taking itself too seriously. Holder so clearly values the vibes of these characters over the gears of any plot, her Brooklyn at times appears eerily deserted — or at least not as congested as one might imagine real-life New York.

Those choices will not suit everyone (Esther Zuckerman’s withering “Indiewire” takedown was particularly harsh). And every moment the movie spends away from the core threesome struggles to add value. The minor hijinks of Roy Wood Jr.’s married pal Alan are out of place enough to feel like they exist in an entirely different movie. He’s certainly no Edward Everett Horton or Charles Coburn. Fortunately, the majority of the scenes keep our eyes on Holland, Beharie, and Wise, who make the job look easy.

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