15. Moonlight

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!

11. Hidden Figures

Is it just me, or are there a lot of films based on true stories nowadays? Hidden Figures is based on the lives of African-American women working for NASA in the sixties. The story follows Katherine, (Taraji P. Henson), a maths genius, Mary, (Janelle Monae), an aspiring engineer, and Dorothy, (Octavia Spencer), acting department supervisor who isn't getting any credit.

I found the story captivating and hard hitting. The fact this is based on a true story, illustrating that not so long ago women and people of colour were so badly discriminated against. Katherine has to do a mile round trip out in the elements just for a wee, knocking time out of her day, meaning she actually does work on the loo! I'm not suggesting that we live in a non-discriminatory world today, or that these problems are abolished completely, but I did find it enlightening to see the blatancy of the racism people experienced.

The department that our main characters work in at the start of the film is 'coloured computers'. The women can calculate ridiculous equations by hand, and quickly too. It's astounding to think that it was calculations done in people's heads that essentially propelled us into space. It's even more admiral that the people that came up with these equations were being disgustingly discriminated against at the time.

Throughout my life, I have been a fan of having a motto. More recently these mottos have been 'I'm (Insert Age Here), I do what I want', 'Everything is Corrupt' and my personal favourite 'Science is Bullshit'. If we just focus on the last phrase there, this film speaks to me on a level. Science is moving so fast that something we know as a proven fact today, could be the complete opposite tomorrow. Maths however is always constant, and that's why I like it. This movie illustrates this so well, and Katherine campaigns to be in the meetings with the big dogs so she can use her badass maths to send a geezer to space.

I love the way all of our three main characters are all defiant and all campaign for there rights and their knowledge wins against the rules of society, and with this they are all rewarded with success. I found the film so inspiring, and for a film about space (see my first review of the year), and maths, it was really interesting and exciting! I also liked the fact that the title was a meaningful pun. This film definitely deserves an 8.5/10; a must watch for anyone interested in human rights, justice, space, science and maths!