Moonlight

This heartwarming film features the experience of Chiron, an African American boy (Alex R. Hibberts), who eventually blossoms into adolescence (Ashton Sanders) and then into adulthood (Trevante Rhodes). With a childhood of bullying and abuse in Miami, Chiron finds solace in Juan (Mahershala Ali) and his girlfriend Teresa (Janelle Monáe). While his mother Paula (Naomie Harris) struggles with addiction, he forms a friendship with Kevin. Like Chiron, we also see Kevin as a child (Jaden Piner), teenager (Jharell Jerome) and adult (André Holland), but only through Chiron’s eyes. Through glimmering music and beautiful cinematography, Moonlight presents a deeply emotive film about boyhood, identity, queerness and race. This is a film that is sure to make you cry, laugh, and most importantly, smile. The kind of thoughtful smile you can only conjure when you witness something truly spectacular.

Naomi Pandey

Moonlight is an eloquent film of few words. It follows the growth of its main character, Chiron, who also does not like to talk much. At first glance Moonlight may appear as a standard coming of age film, with a few plot holes and neglected explanations here and there. In its simplicity, however, Moonlight succeeds at addressing one of the most complicated concepts to translate into cinema, and it does so without trivialising or downplaying it: identity.

We follow Chiron in his journey through his everyday life as a young black kid living in an impoverished neighbourhood in modern day Miami, we observe him as he struggles with sexuality, bullying, loss, friendship, masculinity and belonging. The film, however, never drifts off its focus on the characters, it never allows for an intricate plotline to get in its way, but floats on smoothly, ending each segment when appropriate and letting the sequence speak for itself, refraining from polluting the images with words. Moonlight is an all-round film, in which there is no too much of anything: music, words, shots, scenes; everything is calibrated so that by the end there is no desire for more, and no desire for less. Accompanied by Nicholas Brittel’s incredible soundtrack and James Laxton’s outstanding cinematography, Barry Jenkins’ new award winning picture will urge you to reconsider your own conception of self, and of other.

Marta Meazza