Review of Moonlight (2016) by Brian W — 03 Mar 2017

For all the great things Moonlight did it was overshadowed by its glaring issues as a full-length feature film.

Moonlight did some really great things that will be looked back on and even studied by up and coming film students. The cinematography of Moonlight was absolutely astounding and really mirrored the character study and moods that the film portrayed. The direction of photography was also very gripping where it counted. The best thing about Moonlight is the acting, Alex Hibbert as Little Chiron was the most moving part of this film followed by Mahershala Ali as Juan the drug dealer. Both these roles were poignant and so deep that as I watched Moonlight, in the beginning, I was sure this was the best picture of 2016. Then the story played out and the character arcs fell to the sides and Moonlight truly disappointed me.

Here is my overall impression as the credits rolled, I was bored and unfulfilled. Moonlight was an interesting film as all character studies are interesting, but I felt disconnected from it. Characters I cared about were not fully fleshed out or just disappeared from the story altogether and without explanation. It's funny that this movie moves from childhood to life as a teenager to young adulthood but the story itself never fills this flow. It's disjointed and leaves the audience behind as it swiftly moves from plot point to plot point. In places where Moonlight could have soared and paid off it's very emotional story it instead switches gears and falls flat. I was so interested in the relationship Chiron had with Juan and Theresa as pseudo-parents and it never pays off or even concludes to move us forward. Instead, it brings us to a climax with Chiron's actual mother and Juan and even this scene is desperately unfulfilling.

After I saw the movie I found out it was originally a fifteen-page short story and it makes total sense that the adaptation had problems. Moonlight would have been a better short film or maybe even a pseudo-documentary. It definitely wasn't the best film of 2016 but neither was La La Land in my opinion.