As you may have seen from previous posts, I tried to catch most of the Oscar nominated films this year. For some reason, the cinemas near me tend not to show the less commercial films, and only the big budget, well advertised ones (or let's be honest it may be 2017 but infrequent showings of films heavily featuring People of Colour isn't particularly surprising is it? And the Academy Awards have been called out for white washing before, so often these critically acclaimed movies aren't particularly diverse. Anyway... I digress). Moonlight, after winning 3 Oscars, is now being shown more widespread even in the small cinemas, so I thought it would be an insult not to see it!
Moonlight is my type of film. There is a lot of focus on characters and character development, and I really love that. If you like a film with a big plot, or action, or a major event, you may not be into this movie. The story is about 3 stages in Chiron's (Alex R Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes) life. We follow him as a young boy, a teenager, and a young adult, learning about himself, and the world around him. Chiron's life is proven more difficult as his mother is an addict, leading to Chiron being bullied. We follow him as his relationship with drugs changes, through seeing his mother, but also through befriending those in the industry. We also watch as he forms new relationships and as he grows up.
As I mentioned, I really enjoyed the film, I thought the story was really interesting, and I like watching characters develop, and I think it was innovative to watch one character in three stages of life. I also thought the acting was great, and really believable. The three lead actors must have worked closely together as you really felt like they were drawing on the past events in their life, and even the mannerisms were as if it was the same person. Mahershala Ali was great in his Oscar winning supporting role, and this year I've also learned that Janelle Monae is a great actor as well as an amazing singer (See my review on Hidden Figures)!
Overall, I really enjoyed this movie, and I think it had some great messages in it, but was true to life; it wasn't cheesy and didn't preach or press. I liked the gritty feel of it, and it didn't hold any bars in it's content. I really liked the ending, as I felt it was a little unexpected, but again it wasn't cheesy and perfect, it was real. I'd definitely recommend giving it a watch - I mean it's our 2017 Oscar winner, and I'd give it an 9/10. I can understand some people may feel this is too high - if you're not interested in character development, and you like an easy to follow plot, it won't be the one for you. But if you like watching how the past can shape a future, you're in for a treat!
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