Thursday 23 February 2017

Review: Moonlight

Written and directed by Barry Jenkins, Moonlight tells the tender tale of a young man's struggle to find his true identity, told over three significant chapters of his life as he struggles with family, life, love and his own sexuality.
This movie emotionally grabs hold of its audience from the very first scene and never lets go as we see the brutal yet at times uplifting story of young Chiron, from youth to adolescence through to adulthood.
He has to live with a life of bullying, a drug addicted mother (played exceptionally by Oscar nominated almost unrecognisable Naomi Harris) and having a drug lord as his only positive male role model (played by odds on Oscar winner Mahershala Ali).
The incredible cinematography and score just add to the magnetic performance by the cast and direction by Barry Jenkins as we feel the hurt, pain and at times joy experienced by Chiron and even though the film is made up of an all African American cast the theme of a young child/boy/man struggling to find his identity is a universal one. 
The mood and tone of this movie are perfectly captured by Jenkins, not by any cinematic tricks but simply by the actors expressions and emotions etched all over their faces (Chiron is not much of a talker). It is the simplest trick in the book yet a powerful one as the audience is swept along intimately experiencing and feeling this characters pain.
It's really refreshing that in at time of CGI and blockbuster madness that a simple yet powerful film such as this can get the recognition it so richly deserves with eight Oscar nominations behind it's belt and just as recently as this week wining the Best Original Screenplay at the Writers Guild of America Awards - hopefully the first of many awards for this magnificent piece of film.
One that will resonate for days, months and years.A triumph.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

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