The Lorraine (Sam Pollard, 2026) 3½ out of 5 stars
Director Sam Pollard (Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes) is a reliably competent documentarian, always able to inform as well as engage. In The Lorraine, a film conceived and written by Alvin Hall, Pollard gives us the account of the titular motel, in Memphis, Tennessee. Black-owned, it reached its peak of popularity during the segregated era of the American South, appearing in Victor Hugo Green’s Green Book as a safe place for African Americans to stay. It’s also where the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968.
Today, the Lorraine is no longer a motel. Instead, it is the site of the National Civil Rights Museum. If it seems odd—and it does, to some, as we learn—that the site of an assassination should be commemorated in this way, well, give the movie a whirl. You’ll come away with a robust understanding of all the facts, and along the journey gain an appreciation of the pride of place Memphis should hold in our memory, too.
For one thing, Beale Street—the “Home of the Blues—is located there. If you’re a James Baldwin fan, then the name of the street should ring a bell thanks to his novel If Beale Street Could Talk, eloquently adapted for the screen by director Barry Jenkins in 2018. Memphis was and is an important hub of Black American culture.
The Lorraine Motel was purchased in 1945 by Walter Bailey, who renamed it from the “Marquette” in honor of his wife, Loree, and the jazz tune “Sweet Lorraine.” Over the next 20 years, the Baileys saw their business grow, especially once they made it into the Green Book. Dr. King had stayed many times before that fateful April 4.
So had a great variety of other Black celebrities. Part of the joy of this movie is seeing all the archival film and photography of the motel’s heyday, as well as interviews with those still alive today to talk about it and experts on the history. These include Caroline Bailey Champion (the Baileys’ daughter), employees of the motel, James Alexander of the Bar-Kays, Carla Smith (the “Queen of Memphis Soul”), soul singer Eddie Floyd (who wrote “Knock on Wood” while at the Lorraine), Ambassador Andrew Young (who witnessed Dr. King’s killing), and museum directors Dr. Noelle Trent and Dr. Russell Wingington, to name just some.
It’s a great collection of talking heads. In addition to the above, we also spend significant time at the end discussing how and when the Lorraine was transformed into its current iteration, and the competing feelings people have about that transformation. The result is compelling, if often conventional in its storytelling approach. It’s important to chronicle the past—especially in an age where so much Black history is under threat from the current U.S. government—and The Lorraine does exactly that.
Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Chris Reed is the editor of Film Festival Today. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.