As we head into awards season, this year’s most talked about indie flick is Moonlight. It is a tough movie to watch but it is also a fabulously acted film by a large, generally unknown cast.
Moonlight (Mahershala Ali, Naome Harris, Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes) – While we might not think about it much, we film goers go to the movies for different reasons. Sometimes, it is simply to be entertained. Other times, it is to be informed, to laugh, to be moved, to eat popcorn, to escape, to be scared, to be stimulated, to accompany someone else, etc.
Moonlight, this awards season’s “it” film, is not a walk in the park. Be prepared to be drawn deep into this hard, human coming-of-age drama. Set in the inner city of Miami, Moonlight is helmed by 37-year-old, African-American writer/director Barry Jenkins, whose only previous feature film credit is for Medicine for Melancholy, a “little film” that cost $13,000 to make and grossed just over $100,000.
Moonlight tells the emotional story of Chiron from age 9 to manhood. Told in three time periods, it follows him first as a kid nicknamed “Little” because he is so small. He is exceptionally quiet and shy, rarely talking to anyone, including his drug addicted, sexually prolific single mother, Paula (Naome Harris). She doesn’t much want him except when it is convenient, leaving him on his own way too much. Little (Alex Hibbert) is teased, chased, and tormented by almost everyone except one friend, Kevin, who provides him with the only friendship he will ever really know.
One day, while running away from the bullies, he finds a hideaway but is discovered by a bad dude named Juan (Mahershala Ali). Juan is a drug dealer, a king within this ghetto. He befriends Little and becomes this kid’s de facto father figure, feeding him, comforting him, and teaching him life’s lessons. Ali, who will be familiar to House of Cards fans as Remy Danton, delivers an incredible performance as an amazingly complex and ironic character. He is peddling death and addiction while showing a softhearted, caring side and living a middle-class life with his classy girlfriend, Teresa (Janelle Monae). Paula buys her drugs from Juan and doesn’t like the big guy in her son’s life. That forms the early tension in the movie as Little opens up to Juan and Teresa.
Flash forward to high school where Little has transformed into Chiron, a skinny, socially awkward kid who is a good, responsible student but still the foil of the bullies. Kevin remains his only friend as the boys explore their sexuality. That friendship lasts right up to the time when Kevin, who manages to get along with everyone, is forced to choose between Chiron and the bad boys. Before it’s all over, Chiron lands in jail.
Flash forward again and we meet the grown-up man, nicknamed Black (that was Kevin’s nickname for him), who now lives in Atlanta where his mother is institutionalized. Now on his own, Black has taken a familiar path for kids from the hood. One day, he gets an out-of-the-blue call from Kevin, who is still in Miami. As the film moves through to its final act, the life of the present collides with the realities of the past in a moving denouement without convenient closure.
The film boasts an all-black cast. Only Naome Harris (Moneypenny in Spectre, Eve in Skyfall) appears throughout all three stories. Her performance is stunning though it is not big. The movie focuses on Chiron in all three phases of his life, and the three actors do an incredible job of providing a two-decade look into this kid’s life.
Destined to play independent art-houses, Moonlight will benefit from being nominated for awards. It has already garnered Golden Globes and Screen Actors’ Guild nominations so look for it.
If you want a movie that will merely entertain you, Moonlight is not for you. If you want to be moved, made to feel uncomfortable, and are prepared for a socially relevant glimpse into the inner city, make sure you see Moonlight.