Review of Moonlight (2016) by Isadore H — 20 Mar 2017

Gay stories are severely lacking in cinema and when gay characters do exist, they're rarely done justice, commonly portrayed as sidekicks or stereotypes. But Moonlight, by indie African American director Barry Jenkins, is an extraordinary coming of age drama that lays the struggles of one gay man front and centre, while asking difficult and open ended questions about the nature of masculinity and sexuality in African American culture, issues rarely explored on the big screen.

The story, based on Tarell Alvin McCraney's play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, chronicles the life of a young black man from childhood to adulthood as he struggles to find his place in the world growing up in 'da hood'. It is a heartbreaker of a film, incredibly moving and of staggering depth and subtlety, a coming of age drama both specific in its subject while universal in its theme.

The narrative has a triptych structure. Across three moments in the life of its main character, Chiron (played by three different actors), it communicates how difficult it is if you are black and gay in a community in which masculinity is strictly defined and demanded.

This story of an impoverished life of a young, gay black American is full of powerful performances from its cast. The style of the film demands that much is conveyed with no dialogue and its extraordinary performances meet the challenge.Trevante Rhodes and Mahershala Ali are both outstanding, and it's a stunning turn by André Holland. The film is also dazzling, visually intoxicating cinema, sensually and mesmerically shot. It has incredible flow moving easily between the desperate events without ever seeming merely episodic.

A symphony in three acts, Moonlight is at once a vital portrait of contemporary African American life and an intensely personal and poetic mediation on gay identity, family, friendship and love. Moonlight is a sublime achievement and a groundbreaking piece of cinema. And a richly deserved awards winner.