Moonlight (2016) review - Movie Thoughts (Chapter 22) 🌑

Hello everyone,

Today's film is infamous for an incredibly unfortunate reason. The actual winner of the 2017 Academy Award for Best Picture (NOT La La Land, remember that debacle??!!), anyone who has experienced this film will probably recollect it as one of the most profoundly moving pieces of cinema ever. A big statement I know, but one I stand behind. It's heavy, yet so fundamentally brilliant....

(**disclaimer: the following thoughts are 100% my opinion, you do not have to agree with them - film is inherently subjective and everyone's perspective is valid! Also, there are probably spoilers in the following, read at your own risk. Now onto some thoughts....**)

Source: IMDB

It’s incredibly frustrating that people would most likely remember Barry Jenkins’ 2016 masterpiece for initially losing the Academy Award for Best Picture in the infamous card mix-up. Moonlight won the top prize, and deservedly so because there are few pieces of cinema that enthrall audiences like this film does. Young African-American boy Chiron wrestles with his identity and sexuality against the backdrop of everyday life through childhood, adolescence and into young adulthood. A heartwarming and refined coming of age drama that packed an emotional punch, there’s an introspective intimacy that director and writer Jenkins was able to achieve in conveying such a subtle yet moving narrative through drawing audiences into following the life of one seminal character through the phases of his life.

At its bare bones, this film was unapologetically blunt about the realities of hardship and endurance that are fundamental to the human experience. In its violently emotional and often confronting portrayal of events, Jenkins has managed to cultivate a piece of moving art that doesn’t force its themes down audiences’ throats. Instead, it had this transcendent tone of raw truth and discovery that placed audiences firmly in Chiron’s shoes at various pivotal and often difficult moments in time.

Through stripping away overworked clichés of African American life, audiences’ expectations of the narrative are immediately thrown out in favour of raw, uninterrupted empathy. Cleverly not reliant on lengthy dialogue for impact and leaving plenty of empty space for the actions and setting to convey the intended message, the film also implicitly asks the viewer to properly dive in and invest in Chiron’s journey; presenting each beat with intent and respect.

Perhaps the most powerful tool Jenkins used was the framing of time. Through following one boy’s story through three distinct timepieces allowed for the overall pacing of the film to be structured consistently. These snapshots were chronologically geographic and each powerful in their own right, yet their connections to one another stitched together an experience-based assessment of how people navigate family, race, identity, sexuality and life goals.

The opening act was categorized as ‘little’; focused beautifully on the aches of a boy who doesn’t have stability at home and found solace in drug dealer Juan (Mahershala Ali) and his partner Teresa (Janelle Monae). Initial problems with his addict mother Paula (Naomie Harris) and already feeling different from other kids, combined with the important lessons Juan and Teresa imparted on little Chiron (Alex Hibbert) highlighted the importance of influences at a young age shaping the way people grow up and the baggage they take into the next phases of existence. Ali’s brilliant Academy Award winning performance was short and punchy; quickly setting up complex moral issues and a disarming vulnerability.

The middle period titled ‘Chiron’ covered bullying, insecurity, revelations in sexuality and the heartbreaking limbo of living with an addict. Arguably the most intense chunk of the narrative, there were twists and decisions both shocking and immaculately well-executed. Much of the emotional and thematic build-up is resolved in the final third of time, titled ‘Black’. Despite being the weakest piece in terms of vague emotional cues and pacing that had to slow down to adequately resolve, there were still numerous poignant climaxes that continually tugged at the heart strings. Chiron’s mechanical state of life as a drug dealer in Georgia evoked strong memories of Juan yet an overwhelming sense of feeling lost. His return to Miami was bittersweet, and the powerful reunion with childhood friend and first love Kevin (Andre Holland) at the diner was brilliantly done. The moment in the rehab facility with his mother after he received her teary apology was gut-wrenching and another ode to time; in this case time allowing for old wounds to start healing and new beginnings to present themselves.

The characterisation of Chiron across the three timeframes and three different actors was very impressive. Mannerisms you could see in Hibbert’s performance were present in Ashton Sanders’ humble portrayal of Chiron at sixteen years old to the unassuming physicality of Trevante Rhodes’ performance as an adult version of the character. Successfully maintaining a consistent picture of the protagonist as someone who is loyal but doesn’t trust or confide easily ultimately enhanced the emotive impact of this powerful story. A standout performance by Naomie Harris as the mother across the entire narrative also elevated things and made the damaged mother/son relationship all the more heartbreaking.

Poignantly self-contained within a detailed take on the struggles of one man’s life through the vessel of time, Jenkins has created something truly magnificent. His instinct for raw and unique cinema channelled depth into a story embodied by a commanding and talented cast. With a thoughtfully engaging score and measured pacing, its potent simplicity was a true lesson in ‘less is more’.

8/10, 4 STARS

Thanks for reading,

Love and the painful rollercoaster of life, Emily 🌑