Love, Brooklyn takes the lives of a group of people who live in Brooklyn, and shows us their foibles and neuroses, their loves and pasts and dreams, and lets us swim in their meanderings. The protagonist is a writer called Roger, played by André Holland, who is struggling to get an article written about the changing face of Brooklyn. Despite being an overt plot device, the references to looking things squarely in the face and getting on with it help pull the narrative together and give the film some beats to hit. Roger’s cruises down the beautifully back-lit streets on his bicycle, sashaying between his love- interests homes, and his own next steps, with long pans on the streets of Brooklyn. He sits at the heart of a group of friends whose lives intersect, and are in varying states of stability and definitions of family, each with something they need to let go of.
In interviews, quite a few of the cast and crew have referenced When Harry Met Sally as a touchstone for the film, and there’s an obvious parallel in that the borough becomes a romantic star, Brooklyn being shot in a similar palette to the classic rom-com, and homage being payed to the landmarks and outdoor spaces that the people of Brooklyn rely upon as the setting of their own lives. The work of Woody Allen is also called to mind, in the dissection of relationships through the cross-section of a city. It also has maybe the best soundtrack at Sundance!
In any neighbourhood, every park, every street, every restaurant or corner of a block, will have memories of the people and moments that are paramount in an individual’s narrative of their own life. Love, Brooklyn examines how each of us can hold on to what is important in the face of rampant change, rising costs, and the redesign of cities, and asks us to question, was it always thus, or is something being lost?
Premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2025
directed by Rachael Abigail Holder
screenwriter Paul Zimmerman
produced by André Holland, Kate Sharp, Patrick Wengler, Maurice Anderson, Liza Zusman
executive producers are Steven Soderbergh, Jeffrey Deary, Andy Steinman, Brian Katz, Thomas Zambeck, Alexander Leff and Rachael Abigail Holder
director of photography Martim Vian
edited by Shawn Paper
co-producers Sophia Harvey
production designer Lili Teplan
music by Joel P. West
casting by Rebecca Dealy
costume designer Missy Mickens
Starring André Holland, Nicole Beharie, DeWanda Wise, Roy Wood Jr., Cassandra Freeman, Cadence Reese
The original script by Paul Zimmerman was called Fleeing, and wasn’t conceived with Black people in mind. Love, Brooklyn is a feature directorial debut for Rachael Abigail Holder, and on reading the script, she saw the potential for a Black romance. André Holland came on early as a producer and thought the same. As Holder told a Variety audience at Sundance Film Festival, “We wanted to have a modern, Black romantic movie so that people watching it would feel familiar feelings — like they were watching their favourite movie that’s romantic and Black — but like they are watching a movie that they’ve never seen before, because it’s set today and reflects the past 5-10 years of evolution of the city and that we as humanity have gone through.”
Also having Black characters simply living their lives and focussing on romance can feel quietly radical. As Holland said, “It’s a movie which doesn’t rely on like car crashes or car chases or trauma or violence; it’s a movie about people trying to figure out how to move their lives forward in love.”
On the red carpet before the premiere at Sundance, Irresistible spoke to the editor Shawn Paper and the costume designer Missy Mickens about the film.
What drew you to this project?
Shawn Paper: The character of Brooklyn is such a big part of this story. There’s such a sense of how landscape and inner-scape intertwine, and I love that. David Foster Wallace said, ‘Every love story is a ghost story,’ and this film isn’t a ghost story, but there are a few ghosts around. Being able to using Brooklyn as an evolving character reflects the duality of a person’s simultaneous stagnation and their desire to evolve.
Are you from Brooklyn?
SP: I’m from Los Angeles, but it means even more to me now as I’m from Altadena. I just evacuated because of the fires. What drew me to this project is also what haunts me now.
How did you set out putting this film together?
SP: First I needed to see, whose story is it? I want to balance it so I know who is driving the scene, and then I get to play with any nuggets in the footage that are serendipitous, that are impossible to repeat. Those moments that are magical and are fleeting. If I find one of those, sometimes I have to reconstruct the scene around something that is truly organic. It makes the sum greater than the parts.
The name of the film conjures up some strong emotions and imagery. How did you apply that to the edit?
SP: The protagonist is an author and he’s writing an essay about the city, in essence a love letter to Brooklyn. Sometimes writing is hard to dramatise. We found inventive ways to tell the story in a ways that’s cinematic.
What do you think a global audience can take away from the film, maybe even if they don’t know Brooklyn?
SP: I’d like people to take away a realisation about the interplay between landscape and inner-scape are so integral to our environment and our self evolution. As our environment changes, whether it’s global warming, or anything, we are evolving too. This is a story about not staying stuck.
How did you start putting the look of the characters together?
Missy Mickens: Its a conversation with the directors, producers and actors about who they think the characters are. I’m also someone who has lived in Brooklyn for many years, I’m seeing the transitions. People are coming from all over the world to the neighbourhood, but there is still the essence of the community that was born and raised there, or the people that have been there for so long they might as well have been. I wanted to reflect those people. There’s an energy and creativity that’s specific to Brooklyn. You’re going to see a Coogi sweater, exclusive limited edition sneakers paired with a designer dress. You’re going to see socks and loafers. Because they’re fly.
Where there any local designers that came up?
MM: I used jewellery from local Brooklyn designers. I used some pieces from other fashion locals. I kept mixing high and low, masculine and feminine.
Where there any local designers that came up?
MM: I used jewellery from local Brooklyn designers. I used some pieces from other fashion locals. I kept mixing high and low, masculine and feminine.
How would you deceive the aesthetic?
MM: It’s luxury, but the characters are not walking billboards. Even if you don’t know the designer, you can see that the fabrics are rich and move well. DeWanda Wise’s character is a former dancer and a widow, so her colour palette is muted but active. Fabrics are soft as she’s a mother. A lot of her clothing is actually her husbands, it’s a way of keeping him with her. Whereas Cassandra Freeman’s character is a gallery owner, she owns a building, she’s a badass. Her character is Caribbean; you’re going to see colour, designer, something that is custom, just fly.
What drew you to this project?
MM: It’s a beautiful story. With everything that is going on in the world at the moment, we need a slice of life story that is about love, that doesn’t include struggle, that is really just about making choices. I loved what When Harry met Sally did for New York City. I think this film is doing that for Brooklyn.
