A woman working at her father’s record store in Harlem in the late 1950s meets an aspiring saxophone player.

Our movie opens with the sultry sound of music and a breathtaking look at New York City in 1962. Sylvie is attending a show, and it looks as if she was stood up. As a gentleman walks out of a studio, he runs into her which sparks a delight on her face. We then fall back five years.

First, Sylvie’s boyfriend is overseas, and she meets Robert, a charming musician who has an eye for Sylvie. As their friendship develops, both seem to start to be keen towards each other, and after watching him play on stage one night (a date?), they share a kiss, which leads to dismay amongst their friendship.

We understand the idea of these two together is problematic, but as we hear the beautiful sounds of music behind them, the charm of which when we see them together and the way they look at each other, you can’t help but root for the two of these to fall in love.

Speaking of the music, this soundtrack is poetic, beautiful, and full of love. With the sounds and it’s embracing of the story, it forces the viewer to swoon to the music’s sound and enjoy the company laid out in front of you. It just enriches the film to another level, and I can’t wait to play the soundtrack over and over again

We intertwine back to the present time when Sylvie is married, and her husband is trying to land a big account while she just got a job being a production assistant on a show. We now enter the scene where Sylvie saw Robert for the first time since she kissed him off to Paris.

Before I go any further, Nnamdi Asomugha was a lockdown cornerback in the NFL for a lot of years, and when I heard he was taking his turn in acting, I was intrigued. Someone who works that hard to be good at a position can only imagine he would try to do the same here. As the movie progresses, he gets better and better, and whoever he worked with leading up to the filming of this did a remarkable job with his dedication included. The little things I loved about Nnamdi in the role of Robert. It ranged from how he carried himself to the use of his hands in certain scenes to the way he articulated his lines within Robert, and he was fantastic.

Furthermore, his partner in crime here was Tessa Thompson, who is hands down this very business’s future. The elegance, style, and presence she commanded, Tessa was breathtaking in this role of Sylvie, and I was clinging to every word that she spoke. Nnamdi and Tessa’s chemistry was electric and is what carried this film to the next level.

As we begin to reach the film’s final moments, I can’t help but reflect on the beautiful storytelling from Eugene Ash. So often in Hollywood, the love story gets convoluted with the same rinse, recycle, repeat methods of love. Eugene deviates from that, starting with an interesting weaving of the storytelling. The way he set it up and took as back while at the same time, fast-forwarding was perfect, and he didn’t leave any stone unturned. Eugene’s use of the songs, the score, the cinematography enriched his script with passion, heart, and love.

The Verdict:

Eugene Ashe’s Sylvie’s Love is a beautifully poetic love story that swoons us from go.