Review of Moonlight (2016) by Alexey L — 26 Mar 2017

Even though it displays great performances (with Mahershala Ali standing out), an unique sense of realism and one fine cinematography and explores life itself, with all that it entails, along with numerous themes (growing up, racial discrimination, homosexuality, drug addiction, morality, family issues, and more) through the eyes of black people, "Moonlight" will definitely satisfy critics and cinema professionals but, for a film whose message is intended to reach all audiences, in spite of its all-black casting, it tries too much in just 110 minutes and loses itself in a three-part product that feels too short (and at the same time, too long, since the overall pace is quite slow) and inefficiently developed, for any average or unexperienced viewer will hardly empathize with any character or any situation, and will be left searching for an epic-scale film that does not exist.