Love Jones and the Art of Us: A Valentine's Day Reflection

love jones (plural love joneses) (slang) An intense, addiction-like craving or desire for love, especially romantic love.

That Love Jones Walmart commercial made me feel a lot of things. We got this beautiful acknowledgment of a film that captures Black love and creativity so perfectly that it's become shorthand for a certain kind of love story, where art and love feed each other, and passion creates and heals. But Wal-Mart also announced it was rolling back diversity initiatives. They want our rhythm but not our blues, basically.

All this sent me back to Love Jones for a rewatch. My first thought was that this movie would never be made today. There’s no high concept, contrived meet-cutes, or elaborate schemes. It’s about two people figuring out how to love each other while pursuing their art. These days, Hollywood struggles to embrace love as a central concern of an entire film. Broken hearts aren’t big enough stakes. Romance becomes a subplot. Watching a movie that existed solely to explore the messiness of love made me realize that I rarely see that anymore and how much I miss it.

I was drawn back into how Darius and Nina's relationship unfolded through poetry readings, photography sessions, and late-night debates about art. Their courtship happens in spaces dedicated to Black creativity - like the poetry night where Darius performs "Brother to the Night (A Blues for Nina).” When Nina has a bad day, she doesn't plot revenge or make over her life - she searches for the perfect Isley Brothers record. This film understands something I deeply believe (and made the case for in The Art of Scandal): that art shapes how we process emotions and becomes the language we use to understand love.

As I watched, I realized I remembered the soundtrack even more than the movie. Maxwell's "Sumthin' Sumthin” frames Nina and Darius’s first love scene, and the vibe is tender passion, filmed with unrushed reverence that understands that we need to see this to understand what these two have. Like neo-soul, the film pairs romance with social consciousness, treating Black art and love as intertwined rather than separate concerns. It’s in every detail - like how Nina's photography channels Gordon Parks. Or how she uses Sonia Sanchez's poetry as flirtation. Or even how Darius compares Nina to Yoruba deities in an improvised poem that intrigues and infuriates her.

If Love Jones were published as a romance novel today, I think it would spark the same debates about what "counts" as romance. Darius commits what many would consider unforgivable sins for a romance hero - sleeping with someone else during a separation, dumping Nina during a fight, and failing to follow up after that romantic run through a train station. Nina does some questionable things, too, and when they end up together, you're not entirely sure it will last (which makes that Walmart commercial feel particularly suspect). It was written and directed by a man, and the film does deep dives into traditionally masculine concerns and leaves little room for its women characters at times.

But ask anyone old enough to watch R-rated movies in the nineties whether Love Jones is a romance, and you'll get an emphatic yes. I say yes. Beneath the messy reality of Nina and Darius’s relationship, the film makes the universal argument that all romance makes - that love is the key to happiness. That's why their mistakes feel authentic to me. They're not just plot devices but expressions of character, the messy reality of two artists learning to love while pursuing their dreams.

For Your Valentine's Day Consideration

Watch: Love Jones, obviously. But also The Photograph for a contemporary story about an art curator and journalist finding love while exploring their creative passions.

Listen: The Love Jones Soundtrack remains unmatched for setting a romantic mood. My favorites are Lauryn Hill's "The Sweetest Thing" and “Never Enough” by Groove Theory (a group that is criminally underrated).

Read: The Love Lyric by Kristina Forest captures that same smooth '90s R&B cadence - the kind that starts as a gentle groove before the bass line catches hold of your heart.

Words Worth Keeping

I gather up

each sound

you left behind

and stretch them

on our bed

each night

I breathe you

and become high.

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What’s the best song on the Love Jones soundtrack?

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This is a special Valentine's edition of The Critical Heart. On Monday, I’ll explore the art of writing different points of view in romance.