Review: Moonlight

Barry Jenkins' second feature film Moonlight is the type of film that restores one's belief that art and especially film can change someone for the better. Here is a film free of exploitative intentions that provides the untold perspective of a young, gay black man struggling to live up to the expectations of masculinity that his environment dictates. Moonlight is simply one of the best films of this year.

"Who is you?" is a question that repeats itself throughout the film. For Little, who later goes by Black and then Chiron, that question isn't easy to answer. Jenkins adapts Tarell Alvin McCraney;s stage play here and structured the film in three parts with three different actors playing Chiron. In the first act, we are introduced to a young boy in 1980's Miami whose mother is addicted to crack. He soon befriends a drug-dealer (Mahershala Ali) and is taken in by the dealer's girlfriend (Janelle Monae). Chiron "Little" learns to swim here in a scene that mimics a baptism. Jenkins peppers the film with religious imagery.

In the middle segment, Chiron is trying to survive high school. He is often bullied and beaten. His frail masculinity is often the source of the attack. He befriends Kevin and the two share a brief sexual encounter that marks Chiron for life. In the third and final segment, Chiron is grown up. He is now a drug-dealer when Kevin calls him out of the blue. Chiron and Kevin meet to figure out what that one night in high school meant.

Moonlight is getting labeled as a "black-gay coming-of-age film." That is far too simple of a label for this extraordinary film. While many films would try to push an agenda at every moment, Moonlight remains subtle and poetic in the themes it explores. Jenkins wants to question the idea of black masculinity but he also wants to make Chiron a complex, real person. Never does the character simply become a vehicle for a message.

The acting in the film is extraordinary. Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes all play Little/Chiron/Black with amazing complexity. Jenkins should be a strong contender for Best Director as he shapes three different performances into one man. The effect is nothing short of stunning.

The worry as the hype builds for Moonlight is that many will expect an emotional slam of a film. Moonlight is far quieter and poetic film. The style of the film, created through a fantastic soundtrack by Nicholas Britell and the stunning work of cinematographer James Laxton, works actively against the more melodramatic expectations of such a story. The film works better as a dream than as a gritty drama. The final shot of the film is perfect, leaving us with the sense of peace not found anywhere else in the film. 

If anything, Moonlight already triumphs for even existing. Hopefully it will find the audience it deserves as well. At this point in the year, I have not seen a better film. Moonlight is an exceptional achievement in filmmaking. It is also a film that can change views. What more can we ask of art?

5/5