Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Moonlight


Directed by Barry Jenkins.
2016. Rated R, 111 minutes.
Cast:
Trevante Rhodes
Ashton Sanders
Alex Hibbert
Mahershala Ali
Naomie Harris
Janelle Monae
Andre Holland
Jharrel Jerome
Jaden Piner
Patrick Decile

We hear Chiron (pronounced Shy-rone) before we actually meet him. When we do, he's holed himself up in an abandoned apartment to hide from the other neighborhood boys who were chasing him. From we can gather, they were going to beat him up because they suspect he's gay. Chiron is found by Juan (Ali) who takes a liking to the boy and befriends him. Juan and his girlfriend Teresa (Monae) become a surrogate family for Chiron. Their home provides him a safe haven. At his real home, Chiron has lots of issues with his mom. These are merely the early stages of what becomes a very difficult experience for our hero. We walk with him through three important chapters in his life.

In each chapter, Chiron is played by a different actor. This makes narrative sense because he is at a completely different stage of his life in each. The opening chapter, "Little," sees him as a prepubescent boy played by Alex Hibbert. Ashton Sanders takes over for the second chapter, "Chiron," which takes place while he is in high school. Finally, Trevante Rhodes mans the role of Chiron as an adult for the final chapter, "Black." And mans it, he does, in more ways than one because that's precisely what Moonlight needs him to do. It's a muscular performance in both physicality and mentality. At first, his appearance and demeanor are jarring because of all that came before, but once we learn what's really at play it all makes sense. His entire adult persona becomes a sad referendum on the world he's grown up in. Most remarkably, despite three different actors playing the part, it never feels that way. None of the young men tasked with the job seems out of place. Overshadowed by the fact they share a role and, more easily noticeable, the world going gaga over the performance of Mahershala Ali. There's certainly no shame in either of these things, particularly being less noticed than Ali. As Juan, Ali knocks it out the part. He takes a character primed to be a simple caricature and makes him fully human. This is a guy who doesn't always do right, but is most certainly trying to do right by Chiron.

The cast, as a whole, is simply fantastic. Naomie Harris gets the thankless job of playing Chiron's mentally abusive mother Paula. She rants, raves, huffs, and puffs her way to a well-deserved Oscar nomination of her own. Janelle Monae strikes the counterbalance as Teresa. She's the far more nurturing of the two. Following the opening chapter, it's her alone providing Chiron with something good in his life. Monae is excellent in the less flashy role. It's even less flashy than the role Monae herself played to wonderful effect in Hidden Figures. In a year's time, I've gone from only knowing her as a singer to respecting her as an actress with admirable range.


The last key role is that of Kevin. Like Chiron, he is played by three different actors: Jaden Piner as a child, Jharrel Jerome as a teen, and Andre Holland as an adult. Similarly to Chiron, Kevin feels like a role played by one person we watch growing up. Kevin also might be the most important character other than Chiron. I've heard it said that Juan's presence hangs over the entire film despite a limited amount of screen time. I disagree to a certain extent. I recognize how influential Juan is to Chiron, however much of what we see him do is in reaction to his interactions with Kevin. Later, the depth to which Kevin has affected him becomes clear. It also begs the question: is what we're watching a love story, or a tragedy? Could it be both? The purposely ambiguous ending offers possibilities, but no solid answers. It's also fitting because Chiron himself is searching for answers. When the film ends neither of us are sure he's found them. If you're looking for a tidy ending, this isn't the movie for you. If you're looking for a film that serves as the starting point for a fascinating conversation, you're in the right place.

Of course, that conversation would be incomplete without delving into the topic of Chiron's sexuality. As I mentioned, we immediately learn that others don't like him because he's gay. There is a hugely powerful scene in which the youngest version of Chiron seeks wisdom from Juan on the matter. Juan delivers, but this leads to a moment where Juan can only fail. Aside from the final seconds, this is the most powerful scene in the film. When Chiron becomes a teen, we see little has changed between he and the neighborhood boys. Later, we find out Chiron has taken steps to prevent the kind of treatment he was getting earlier in life. The struggle to come to terms with his sexuality overwhelmed very early on. He is a man who has been trying to define himself nearly every day of he's been alive. The problem is he always bases that definition on the opinions of others. This is where the universality of Moonlight lies. Whether gay or straight, most of us have, at one time or another, become a bit too concerned with what other people think of us and adjusted ourselves accordingly. This is the strand many viewers will be able to grasp first. Once they do, Chiron's humanity cannot be denied. Instantly recognizing he's short of them, we become advocates for him. We just want people to leave him alone so he can be happy. And we want it badly.

Director Barry Jenkins deserves a ton of credit for pulling this all together. First, he wrote the screenplay himself, adapting the play by Tarell Alvin McCraney called In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. He does an outstanding job of it. From behind the camera, his storytelling is confident and paced perfectly. Jenkins is also at least as responsible as the actors playing Chiron and Kevin for the seamlessness of their performances. He puts both in positions where they will most affect each other, and us in the audience. It also helps that he gets superb work from the person pointing the camera he's sitting behind. James Laxton handles the cinematography and gives us a beautiful, if sad, world. He particularly excels in shooting the beach scenes, both during the day and at night. They are two entirely different scenes. He makes them look that way and induces the necessary feelings in the viewer. In the end, that's what it's all about: the feelings in the viewer. Jenkins and Laxton explore and manipulate them without ever feeling manipulative.

22 comments:

  1. I loved this film, I wanted to rage when it was over because I wasn't ready to leave Chiron. I wanted to be told that he and Kevin got to have a happy ending. Lovely review!

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    1. Mrs. Dell wanted that, badly. She was very upset when the credits rolled. She's vowed to never watch it again. The woman doesn't do ambiguous endings.

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  2. This is an utterly beautiful film. All of the characters felt like real people, with all their complexities; we the audience only get glimpses of the fuller lives that they live off the screen. And I agree with you about the importance of Kevin, and you feel for him just as much as you do for Chiron.

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    1. That all of the characters do feel like real people is where the strength of this film really lies. And Kevin, yes, feel for that guy, too. Thanks for reading!

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  3. I gave this one my BP cos how couldn't it win? XD Such a glorious piece of film making xD

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    1. I hear ya! I've still got some movies to see from '16, but this is going to be damn hard to beat for my top spot.

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    2. When will your awards be? I'm waiting for Josh and Drew's too. I'm actually starting to worry about those two, they've been gone for centuries :T

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    3. I'm slow with those things. I hope to get my '16 awards done before summer ends. Can't promise since I'm still putting together my awards for 2015. Ugh. Hopefully, those will be up in the next couple weeks. Yes, I hope Josh and Drew give us theirs, too.

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  4. This is just the most beautiful freaking movie. I love it so much. So glad you liked it, too! I love how natural Janelle Monae is in this. The entire cast is just fantastic, which is even more impressive considering half of them are playing two people! Just brilliant. There aren't enough words.

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  5. Reading your great review makes me want to dash out now and see this film. I can't wait to see this because it sounds like such a powerful and relevant film.

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    1. Thanks so much for that wonderful compliment. I think it is very powerful and relevant. Hope you like it.

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  6. I really want to see this but money and other things prevented me from seeing this as I've heard so many great things about this.

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    1. I hope you get to see this, soon. I personally think it's a phenomenal film.

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  7. Yes. This was such a powerful film. I had the pleasure of attending a preview screening of the film back in november in which Harris and Jenkins were there for the Q and A. These events open up new ways to look at the film, because Jenkins said that much of Chiron's mother was based on it own.

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    1. Man, I wish I could have been there. You have my eternal jealousy.

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  8. I agree the cast are fantastic, a quality the film has is letting the supporting characters have layers. You can be a drug dealer(Juan) or a drug user(the mother), yet that is not all you amount to. I needed to watch Moonlight twice for it to really hit home. The adult Kevin is my favorite performance in the movie, the whole third act is quite moving to me. But you can make a case for Chiron seeking solace in all three chapters.
    Good observation it’s a film about being “a bit too concerned with what other people think of us and adjusted ourselves accordingly”. In a way, Trevante Rhodes as 'black' is a 'performance of a performance', not an easy thing to do on screen. Moonlight’s messages about acceptance of yourself, and the need for compassion towards the marginalized are important. Not just because of Trump's recent intolerance towards foreigners, but always.

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    1. That third act is so tough because you know everything that came before it. Moving, indeed. Rhodes's 'performance of a performance' is a tricky one to pull off, but he does it. You know there's so much simmering just beneath the surface and he really conveys that. And a giant yes to your last sentences.

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  9. Great review! I am glad this movie won Best Picture over LLL because it speaks of important things and seeing how it's such a low budget film it's a great thing to happen. That said it just didn't move me, not sure why but as much as I was rooting for the main character I found the film not to stay with me like something like for example Brokeback Mountain

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    1. Thanks! I've yet to see LLL, but just from what I know about it, it seems like lighthearted fun, but nothng that's going to stick. This one did stick with me. To be honest, I'm not much of a fan of Brokeback Mountain. The pacing is so slow it just drags and never really kicks into gear for me.

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  10. OK, I'm back, now that I finally watched and reviewed this movie. Excellent review! I like what you said about it being unclear whether this is a love story or a tragedy. That's part of what makes this movie so believable.

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    1. Absolutely! Love that it never gives us easy answers on this.

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