Moonlight is many things — a portrait of a young black man coming of age in Miami in the 1980s, a film about fathers and sons, about mentorship and about the scourge of drugs — but it is also, with poignance and grace, one of the most piercing movie romances of the last decade.
Alternating between tough and tender — and anchored by a breakout performance from newcomer Trevante Rhodes — the film follows young Chiron across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain and beauty of falling in love while grappling with his own sexuality.
From his boyhood days, lived in the midst of a 1980s Miami crack epidemic, through to adulthood, the one constant in Chiron’s life has been the near-ubiquitous availability of drugs and the constant threat of violence. As a child, he was bullied at school and dealt with harshly at home by his father (Mahershala Ali, from House of Cards); as an adult (when he is so convincingly played by Rhodes), the battleground has become his own psyche. How can he come to terms with the love he feels for his best friend (The Knick’s André Holland)? Can he accept his own sexuality?
Jenkins’ achievements here are both stylistic and thematic. His combination of impressionism and realism allows us to wholly enter Chiron’s life and to feel his triumphs and defeats on a visceral level. That Jenkins succeeds in doing so while shattering stereotypes along the way makes this a groundbreaking film and a sensual, intoxicating piece of cinema.
The best film I’ve seen in a long time and the best take on black masculinity… ever.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Barry Jenkins
Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Trevante Rhodes, André Holland, Janelle Monáe
USA
2017
English
Indigenous & Community Access
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Credits
Screenwriter
Barry Jenkins
Cinematography
James Laxton
Editor
Nat Sanders, Joi McMillon
Original Music
Nicholas Britell
Production Design
Hannah Beachler
Also in This Series
These movies speak to our times and push the boundaries of the art form — the true modern classics we’re confident will withstand the test of time.
In the Mood for Love
Wong Kar-wai's most acclaimed and popular film is a love story about two neighbours (Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung) who are drawn together by the long absences of their respective spouses + a newly released short companion piece from 2001.
Paprika
A device capable of transmitting dreams falls into the wrong hands in this dazzling anime meta-movie from visionary filmmaker Satoshi Kon. The imagery here is never less than overwhelming; it's probably the greatest scifi movie of our times.
Melancholia
Lars von Trier squares up to the end times with this grandly luxuriant but surprisingly punky sci-fi, set in an imposing country mansion house, where Justine (Kirsten Dunst) blows up what's supposed to be the happiest day of her life.
Moonlight
Moonlight is many things -- a portrait of a young black man coming of age in Miami in the 1980s, a film about fathers and sons, about mentorship and about the scourge of drugs -- but it is also one of the most piercing movie romances of the last decade.
Lady Bird
Greta Gerwig's first film as writer-director is a delightful, painful comedy about "Lady Bird" McPherson (Saoirse Ronan), a Sacramento teen on the point of swapping high school for college, and her hard-working mom, Marion (Laurie Metcalf).
Silence
This sober, probing examination of faith, ego, cruelty and compassion is the most underrated film from the often under-valued latter half of Martin Scorsese's brilliant career; a passion project, about Catholic missionaries in 17th Century Japan.
Synecdoche, New York
Charlie Kaufman wrote Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind -- all great, all successful -- then turned director with Synecdoche, which is a masterpiece and which basically went unseen. It's overdue rediscovery.