Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Till’ on Amazon Prime Video, in Which Danielle Deadwyler Gives a Devastating Performance as Civil Rights Icon Mamie Till-Mobley

At first blush, Till (now on Amazon Prime Video) looks a lot like a by-the-numbers historical biopic – socially and politically pivotal events, challenging subject matter, headline-making lead performance – but it does more than just dramatize the story of a tragedy that became a touchstone for civil rights in the U.S. Director Chinonye Chukwu follows up acclaimed drama Clemency with this so-far vastly underappreciated film, featuring a revelatory performance from Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till-Mobley, who became a key activist in the wake of her son Emmett Till’s lynching and murder in 1955. The film will have you walking away wondering if you’ve seen one of the best performances in recent memory, and contemplating why Deadwyler didn’t land an Oscar nomination.

TILL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: “Bo – be small down there.” Mamie (Deadwyler) can’t help but worry about her boy Emmett (Jalyn Hall). He’s 14. Grew up in Chicago. His father died in the war. She brought him up, as she puts it later, with love, not fear. So when she tells him to be cautious, to “be small,” while visiting his cousins in Mississippi – well, he shrugs her off, I know, mom, I know. You can tell him that the South is a different world than he’s used to, but he’s a teenager, and therefore he’s optimistic and thinks he knows it all. He’s full of life, always smiling, ready to sing or dance at the drop of a hat. And then he whistles at the wrong White woman – it could be any white woman in Mississippi, and that’s the fear talking – and ends up dead. Kidnapped in the middle of the night while his uncle and aunt and cousins stand by, terrified, not just of the guns in their faces, but the combined might of the systemic force behind the White men pointing them. Emmett’s body was found in the river three days later.

This is Mamie’s worst nightmare. Emmett had been gone several days, and she was experiencing separation anxiety – they’d never been apart for so long. She never saw him alive again. Every mother worries; few endure such trauma. Her world turns upside-down. She had a good life in Chicago – a nice apartment, a steady job working for the Air Force (where she appears to be the only Black employee in her office), a supportive boyfriend in Gene (Sean Patrick Thomas), a strong relationship with her mother (Whoopi Goldberg) and a son who loved life and loved her and she loved him back. Amidst the throes of her grief, her father (Frankie Faison) connects her with NAACP representative Rayfield Mooty (Kevin Carroll), who gently tells her that this is a pivotal moment. A nationwide push for anti-lynching legislation and Black suffrage is in full swing. With the NAACP by her side and the press behind her, Mamie could apply enough political pressure to not just pursue justice for her son, but change things significantly for the better.

So Mamie travels to Mississippi. To identify Emmitt’s body. She howls in anguish at the sight of her child, bloated and mutilated. A moment later, a look of resolve crosses her face. Not hardened. Not broken. Not desensitized. Resolved. She walks outside, brings in a photographer. His shot captures the horror of the moment: Emmitt’s uncovered body in the foreground, with Mamie and Gene looking over him. “The whole world has to see what happened to my son,” she says. By her insistence, the casket remains open as she guts it out through the funeral; she is certainly one of the strongest women to ever walk this earth. Time passes. The men who kidnapped Emmett face trial by jury in Mississippi. Mamie enters the courtroom and is called the n-word by the local sheriff. The White judge and the all-White jury look on. Mr. Mooty persuaded her to testify by saying, “There is no testimony like a mother’s.” And when she takes the stand, that statement comes true, beyond a shadow of a doubt. 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Till takes the muscular drama of historical MLK bio Selma and blends it with the intimacy of Loving, about the interracial marriage that fueled the landmark Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia.

Performance Worth Watching: I’ll say it again – one of the strongest women to ever walk this earth. Deadwyler makes us believe it.

Memorable Dialogue: William Huff (Keith Arthur Bolden): “When the message from White people is to stop Negroes from voting, or advancing, by any means short of violence, it’s only a matter of time before someone doesn’t stop short of it.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Till is a cut above most historical biopics. Chukwu shows a proclivity for turning melodrama into poetry, doesn’t shy away from challenging scenes, avoids manipulating the audience and draws a truly committed, disarming performance out of Deadwyler that you might not see coming. Crucially, the filmmaker shows patience in telling this story, using closeups and quiet moments to allow Deadwyler to discover and share Mamie’s anguished heart. Neither director nor star fears the grueling intensity of key sequences – Mamie running her hands on Emmett’s lifeless and distorted body, the funeral and Mamie’s testimony in court, which Deadwyler delivers with the conviction and nuance that elevate it above histrionic and indulgent Oscar clips. Chukwu’s carefully modulated pace draws searing truth from Deadwyler’s performance.

This isn’t to say that Till is an art film – it’s a highly accessible, visually handsome bio that works within the confines of genre conventions, but features moments that may unexpectedly challenge audiences’ emotional resilience. Co-writing with Michael Reilly and Keith Beauchamp, Chukwu broadens and enriches familiar scenes from sociopolitical, courtroom and family dramas. Notably, she gives very little time to the racist villains here, choosing not to traffic in cheap outrage. There’s a moment of shameless abject cruelty late in the film that Chukwu cuts away from, because giving attention to lies and bigotry only feeds them. No, she’d rather fill the air between us and the screen with love rather than hate, mirroring Mamie’s assertions about how she chose to raise her boy. Besides, the focus should be on Mamie. It’s her story, and her experience is what resonated with the world.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Till is a quietly powerful bio, and Deadwyler is a revelation.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.