Review of Moonlight (2016) by Wayne K — 12 Apr 2017

A film that wants so much to be artsy and meaningful but comes across as more pretentious and empty, Moonlight boasts a cast on top form, beautiful cinematography and a story which is both nicely told and resonant.

When it starts out you figure it's going to be a simple movie about race, but soon begin to realises that it's about something far more personal, far closer to the heart. The first 2 acts are solid, and while it struggles to avoid the odd clichéd character, most of them ring true.

Unfortunately, things lag badly in the third act. There's a part where 2 of the characters reunite, and the reunion itself lasts close to half an hour. I got the inescapable feeling that the movie had ran out of ideas and things to say but hadn't yet fulfilled the feature length requirement.

It kills the pace and offers an unfortunate anti-climax. On top of that, the camerawork is more gimmicky than clever, the awkward silences go on for far too long, and the pacing is overall too languid to warrant more than a single viewing.

I truly admire what the filmmakers were going for, and the message is touching at its best, but it's ironic that this movie is no masterpiece, largely because the director tried desperately to make it one.