2016: The Year in Film: "Moonlight" Review

 There's a certain genre of film that's emerged in the last decade or so... let's call it the "issue" flick. Think, Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" on screen. They seek to draw attention to their issue through often emotionally manipulative means - I'm thinking of the likes of Crash or Dallas Buyer's Club here. Now it's a very specific thing - as films that have a greater reason for existing than merely exposing the issue at hand don't quite fit - 12 Years a Slave doesn't fit here because of the beauty of the filmmaking and the depth of character development. So when I first heard of and saw the trailer for Moonlight, my concern was that we'd be looking at another proud entrant into the school of emotionally manipulating your audience on the silver screen. Thankfully, that's not what we got here. Though no doubt this film touches on multiple issues of social concern, endemic poverty, sexuality, race, crime and more, it's not ABOUT any one or even all of those things.

In Moonlight we meet Chiron, a quiet boy living in extremely hard conditions in urban Miami. His mother's a drug addict, he's poor, friendless and struggling to find his way. We follow Chiron through three separate phases in his life, as a young boy, as a teenager, and as an adult man, and follow what it means to BE through his eyes.

 The Good: this is Barry Jenkins' 2nd feature film (and I've never seen his first) so I wasn't sure what to expect, but this film is gorgeous. The use of color, the framing, the score and the lighting lend the film a fundamental artistry that mark Jenkins as a filmmaker to watch. The use of different actors and different times means that this film rises above any one time and place and becomes much more personal, much more intimate as a result. We don't need to know every detail of Chiron's life. We see it. On his face. In his voice. In his relationships. (or lack thereof) It reminded me of Boyhood in its intimate and often whimsical tableau of life events and attention to detail. Fundamentally, this is a film about self, about love, about struggle and injustice, but mostly it's about one boy and his struggle to become a man. It's incredibly intimate, and haunting. It doesn't offer answers - merely observations, and sometimes that's all we can expect. Mahershala Ali (this dude is everywhere nowadays, and his charisma, physicality and screen presence have never served him better than they do here) was rightfully nominated for an Academy Award for his performance here - and his performance is truly transcendent here. In all, this is a personal and humanizing look at individuals who are often overlooked or painted in broad strokes. That can be more powerful than any statement of political purpose.



The Bad: there isn't much here - if I am to criticize it's that maybe the three actors portraying Chiron don't resemble each other all that much, but ultimately the film didn't require it. If anything, the film could have been longer. The ending is maybe not as satisfying as it could have been, but I'd argue that the vagueness fits with the... poetry of the film.

In all, this is one of the best films of the year. It was nominated for all those Oscars for a reason. It's haunting, gorgeous, perfectly crafted, well-acted and powerful. It's not exactly an uplifting time at the movies - but it's an important one.

9/10