{"id":1027,"date":"2017-05-06T07:28:02","date_gmt":"2017-05-06T07:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/2017\/05\/06\/httptheblurb-com-aureviewsmoonlight-movie-review\/"},"modified":"2017-05-06T07:28:02","modified_gmt":"2017-05-06T07:28:02","slug":"httptheblurb-com-aureviewsmoonlight-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/httptheblurb-com-aureviewsmoonlight-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Moonlight – movie review"},"content":{"rendered":"

A gritty, art house, coming of age tale about a young boy who is bullied and brought up by a single druggie mother, Moonlight<\/em> plays out as a slice-of-life reality piece. It chronicles a black youngster from primary school age until his early 30s, as he struggles to find his place in the world while growing up in a rough Miami neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

\"\"Moonlight <\/i>features three actors playing the principal character, Chiron, known first as \u201cLittle\u201d at age 10 (Alex Hibbert), then as a 16-year-old (Ashton Sanders) and finally as \u201cBlack\u201d as a grown man (Trevente Rhodes). One of the first scenes is young Chiron fleeing from bullies in his housing project until he is rescued by a Cuban-born drug dealer, Juan (Mahershala Ali), who becomes his mentor and unofficial guardian (with the help of Juan\u2019s girlfriend Teresa, played by Janelle Mon\u00e1e). In the second chapter, Chiron interacts with mate Kevin (Jharrel Jerome), deals with the declining state of his mother Paula (Naomie Harris) and a schoolyard incident that changes the course of his life. And, finally, we see how he turns out once fully mature. Throughout, Chiron feels a great deal but says very little. He is largely unable to express his feelings and finds it awfully difficult to trust others.<\/p>\n

Moonlight <\/i>was conceived in drama school as a class project by playwright and Miami native Tarell Alvin McCraney, a member of the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago. It was his evocation of his own upbringing. The screenplay was written and the movie is directed by Barry Jenkins (who wrote and directed Medicine for Melancholy<\/i> eight years ago). By coincidence, Jenkins came of age in the same rough and tumble neighbourhood as McCraney, where much of the film unfolds. The pair didn\u2019t know each other as children, but their formative years were remarkably similar.<\/p>\n

So it is that Moonlight<\/i> is a portrait of contemporary African American life, an intensely personal and poetic meditation on identity, family, friendship and love. Not all the language is readily understandable, but the script is strong and powerful, as is the ensemble casting. It is hard not to feel moved by what unfolds. I found the words \u201cif only?\u201d reverberating in my brain.<\/p>\n

Mahershala Ali gives a memorable performance as the drug dealer who takes young Chiron under his wing. The moral quandary at the heart of his characterisation is apparent early on and then it becomes a question of how he and Chiron deal with that. While we see the consequences of drug peddling, in this case \u2013 unlike the vast majority of films where illicit substances are front and centre \u2013 the so-called villain has a softer side. In the end though, this is a tale about how one\u2019s life is formed and fed by one\u2019s earliest experiences. It is compelling material.<\/p>\n