Moonlight

This review may contain spoilers!

While certainly a triumph of a film for African-American members of the LGBT community, and the wider LGBT community in general, I don't really see how this film really warrants the title of 'Best Picture'. I would give Moonlight a 6/10.

This is without a doubt a really powerful film about identity and how Chiron evolves as a person throughout the course of his life; I was fascinated by how he was constantly asked who he was and observing how the interactions he had with other characters really shaped him as a person. The importance of his journey around discovering his sexuality is really important to, the challenges of being homosexual on the fringes of a minority group is a difficult place to exist and this film really highlights this well. I was really impressed with the vulnerability that was presented in this film whether that was showing poverty, drug addiction, bullying or expressing oneself, you really come to understand the trials that are set before the main character.

Janelle Monae, who played Teresa, is a really caring motherly figure; Monae has such a natural way or speaking and expressing her role that you connect with her quite easily. Naomie Harris, who played Paula, was quite a devastating role to observe yet one powerful performance from Harris; I really enjoyed the wild bouts of emotion that Harris expressed and how her character really came full circle by the end of the feature. Jaden Piner, who played Kevin Age 9, really hit the screen with a lot of energy; I loved how friendly he was towards Hibbert and how his presence was really noticeable within his scenes. Trevante Rhodes, who played Black, was one of the most powerful performances in this feature; he really created a hard exterior but had the ability to drop this away and carefully expose the vulnerabilities his character faced. Andre Holland, who played Kevin, had a really gentle yet compassionate screen presence; the charisma he built towards Rhodes and the chemistry that really developed between them was inspired.

However the best performance came from Mahershala Ali, who played Juan. Ali is a very charismatic persona who forms a great father figure role towards Hibbert. It was great to see a man who had to deal with living a life of danger and crime find a gentler side of himself by helping raise Chiron. Ali created a figure who was a real pillar of support and who had genuine care for those he held closest to him. While you could understand Ali as the tough criminal drug dealer he really brought a duality to the role by showing the shame he felt over how others perceived him because of this. A role we won't see nearly enough in cinema but one that Ali owns and performs really well.

This is a film that stakes a lot on it's main character, Chiron, and while it deals in it's themes really well it struggles to portray an engaging lead. Chiron is a character who doesn't talk much and takes a long time to open up to others, furthermore he's prone to weird outbursts or actions that make him alienating to watch; the perpetual silence around this role meant he wasn't very accessible to the audience so you never fully felt emotionally invested in his story. I also disapproved of how the time jumps and plot developments within the obvious three act structure played out. Suddenly we find out that Juan dies, or the setting changes quite inexplicably or the abuse story between Chiron and Paula is hastily shelved away in the final act without really finding convincing or appropriate closure. The cinematography looked chaotic and moved in a way that felt dizzying, the framing of the shots looked awful as well and failed to align shots in a pleasing visual style. The editing shifted at a slow pace throughout and the abrupt cuts to close ups were very jarring; I hated the title card transition between each act of the film as it was a glaringly obvious way to move the action along. The soundtrack for this film was inconsistent and had no theme or tone to it; while the score came across as discordant even in scenes that didn't suit this style of music.

Shariff Earp, who played Terrence, was a minor role that got given a bit too much screen time; his line delivery came at a rate that was so fast you understood very little of what was being said. Alex R. Hibbert, who played Little, had no persona when he was onscreen; this real absence of energy and ability to make his mark damaged the opening of the film and connecting with the character in future scenes. Ashton Sanders, who played Chiron, was probably the worst performer at playing the lead role; Sanders awkward portrayal of Chiron really lacked the displays of emotion that was needed to make you connect with the role. Patrick Decile, who played Terrel, was a seriously weak antagonist; the way he played his character one way towards Sanders and another towards Jerome felt poorly crafted. Jharrel Jerome, who played Kevin Age 16, felt so different and removed from the role Piner presented and the performance we get from Holland that he may as well have been playing someone different altogether; Jerome created a role who felt very fake from the outset and his sudden interest in Sanders was poorly done.