A review of the critically-acclaimed and award-winning film “Moonlight”
On the evening of the very day I went to see “Moonlight” at a cinema in London, it received the highest accolade of the Aacedmy Awards in Los Angeles, but only after the most dramatic mess-up in Oscar history when originally “La La Land” was announced as the winner of the Best Film Award only minutes later for it to be declared that in fact “Moonlight” was the actual victor. Even without this memorable fiasco, it would have been a stunning event: the first LGBT film to be awarded the Oscars’ top honour and Mahershala Ali as the first Muslim to win an Oscar.
It is a remarkable film that tells a moving coming-of-age story of a young gay African-American from Miami in a compelling fashion: a triptych in which each of the three segments is titled by the name used for the central character at that time of his life and in which a different actor pays that character. So Alex Hibbert is Little (around 9), Ashton Sanders is Chiron (about 16), and Trevante Rhodes is Black (approximately 26) – each giving a laconic but mesmerising performance.
In a rare movie with an all-black cast, there is strong support from the likes of Oscar-nominated Naomie Harris as Chiron’s drug-using mother and Oscar winner Mahershala Ali as Little’s protector and mentor. Above all, though, this is a triumph for writer and director Barry Jenkins who adapted Tarell Alvin McCraney’s unproduced play “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue” and utilises a wide palette of techniques and styles to communicate his message.
“Moonlight” is a million miles from “La la Land” (which I loved) and will take only a fraction of the box office achieved by the musical. It is slow and painful and will not be to all viewers’ taste. But this is what makes cinema such a wonderful art form. We can admire both and the Academy Awards can acknowledge both.
March 1st, 2017 at 10:25 pm
That sounds enticing. I suspect La La Land is the more likely runner for viewing as a couple. I liked the review, Roger