Best Pictures #32:
2016 (89th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee
You could call Moonlight
a black coming of age movie. You could also call it a gay coming of age movie.
Both statements would be true, but they would greatly reduce the substance of Moonlight and underestimate what it has
to offer. Moonlight is about as far
from an afterschool special as you could get. It is glimpse at a life and a
world not often dramatized, or usually not dramatized well, that moves past
expected clichés with ease and becomes an affecting work of art.
Moonlight is a
film in three chapters. Each has a different actor portray the main character,
Chiron, at different but important times in his life. In the first chapter
titled “Little,” Chiron is a young boy being chased by bullies calling him “f*ggot.”
He finds refuge not at home with his mother, but, in an abandoned apartment. It
is there he meets Juan, a kind and benevolent man that gives the shy, quiet boy
a meal and becomes a mentor and father figure to Chiron. It may seem a
paradox that Juan, who is a decent man, is also the neighborhood drug boss and
sells drugs to Chiron’s mother, but Chiron’s world is a confusing world. Juan’s time
with Chiron is brief but greatly affecting and memorable. So, is Mahershala Ali’s performance, for which he has received an Oscar nomination for Best
Supporting actor.
The other two chapters, “Chiron” and “Black” show us
Chiron’s teenage and adult life. Big chunks of time during which major events
occur in his life are skipped between chapters. Other movies would have
focused on these skipped moments but director Barry Jenkins prefers to suggest rather
than show. It’s the right choice for this film. Chiron is a withdrawn, quiet
person and his story is one of slow, quiet realization.
I’ve read at least one review that has used the phrase
“cinematic poetry” to describe Moonlight.
I wouldn’t use that exact phrase, though there is something poetic about the
title of play Moonlight is based on,
“In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue.” The
cinematography by James Laxton and the score by Nicholas Britell, orchestral
and haunting, are a perfect moody match and both have received Oscar
nominations. Moonlight is certainly
an art film, but it is gentle, unpretentious, and dreamlike experience.
Nominee: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adele Romanski,
producers
Director: Barry Jenkins
Screenplay: Barry Jenkins, story by Tarell Alvin McCraney,
based the play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Cast: Trevante Rhodes, Andre Holland, Mahershala Ali
Production Companies: A24, Plan B Entertainment, Pastel
Productions
Distributor: A24
Release Date: October 21st, 2016
Total Nominations: 8, including Best Picture
Total Nominations: 8, including Best Picture
Other Nominations: Director-Barry Jenkins, Adapted
Screenplay- Barry Jenkins, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Supporting Actor-Mahershala
Ali, Supporting Actress-Naomie Harris, Cinematography-James Laxton, Editing- Joi
McMillon, Nat Sanders, Original Score-Nicholas Britell
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