After reading countless reviews by dozens of predominant film critics who lauded Barry Jenkins "Moonlight," and after seeing the film win Best Picture at this years' Academy Awards, it's safe to say I was excited to finally watch it. For one reason or another I never got around to seeing it in theaters. Then the time came: last week, in preparation for the blizzard that hit my area, I picked up some viewing material to get me though my snow-in, and "Moonlight" was at the top of my list. I sat down, got my snacks in order, filled up a large cup of iced tea, and prepared to experienced one of this years can't miss dramas...
...but by the end, I sadly found myself confused and wanting more. Let me first give you some background.
Over the course of his youth and young adult life, the story follows Chiron and his development into manhood. Centered mostly around the crime and drug filled streets of Miami, Chiron must come to terms with a myriad of personal problems: his crack addicted mother Paula, being tormented by his peers for his size and behavior, and his own understanding of his sexuality. As a boy Chiron finds compassion from Juan, a drug dealer who sees the need for him to have guidance and paternal affection, and from Kevin, a neighborhood boy who shows him the value of standing up for himself. The film is presented much like a play: told in three acts, we get to see Chiron as a young boy (around 10), a teenager (around 17), and as a young adult (around 25). As each period of Chiron's life progresses, we see his societal boundaries become clearer as he deals with issues of sexual and personal discovery, along with deep emotional complications in regards to his family.
I'll try to avoid spoilers within this review as much as possible, but honestly I felt like I was late to the party with seeing it, so I can't imagine many people reading this would either care about seeing the movie or care about revealing plot details. But just to be safe, you've all been warned...
While watching the film, a recurring thought came through my mind: "I feel like I've seen this before." A coming of age drama about urban decay and racial motifs? "Boyz in the Hood," "Menace II Society," "Dope," and "City of God" all check those boxes. A film about sexual discovery? "Mysterious Skin," "In & Out," "Y Tu Mama Tambien," and "Blue Is The Warmest Color" have all been there. Overcoming the abusive or addicted parent? How about "Radio Flyer," "The Tree of Life," "Boyhood," "Affliction," "Forrest Gump"; that list could go on and on (I'll give "Moonlight" some credit for changing up the "addicted and abusive father" cliche and switching it to the mother). Heck, even two other films that were nominated this year for Best Picture deal with some of these themes ("Hacksaw Ridge" dealt with an alcoholic father and "Fences" dealt with the racial boundaries in every day life). I'm not saying that a great film can't use some over done cliches. "La La Land" used (maybe) the most over done cliche in film (young people trying to make it in show business), and yet overcame that familiarity with fantastic performances and excellent prowess within technical and creative fields.
"Moonlight" does have excellent performances, but they left me wanting more. Mahershala Ali plays the father figure/drug dealer Juan with believable passion, but his character has very few scenes worth remembering. His character disappears after Act 1, and once I realized he wouldn't return, I felt cheated out of the story as to why he was gone. By far the best acted scenes in the film all involve Juan: the first being when Juan teaches Chiron how to swim, the second being when Juan confronts Chiron's drug addicted mother, and the third being when Juan and Chiron talk about homosexuality. Losing him for the rest of the story really took the wind out of my sails. I felt an emotional connection with him coming into the movie, only for it to end too soon. The same goes for Naomie Harris, who plays Chiron's mother Paula. Sure, it's easy to feel a strong sense of hatred towards her character as she abuses Chiron mentally and emotionally, and your heart goes out to her in Act 3 as she deals with her personal demons though drug recovery, but just like Juan, I couldn't get over the gaps in her journey. One minute I'm hating her guts, and the next I'm feeling sorry for her. Harris being the talented actress that she is pulls it off well enough, but the film itself falters within this complex. You can't force your viewer into emotional states without connecting the dots as to how we got there. Sure you can infer or surmise what has happened by other means, I'm not meaning that I need my hand held within storytelling, but it's very hard to pull off that amount of jumping between emotions, and at that speed. For that you need a director with patience, and for all his skills I never felt like Barry Jenkins had any. If we had seen more of her downward progression, and where she hit bottom, maybe her reclamation in Act 3 would feel stronger.
Three different actors play Chiron and Kevin respectively, and while each of them are talented, none of them get to really stretch their legs into the role. Each act of the film takes around 30 minutes, so each actor playing the role only has a small amount of screen time to encapsulate their character. It's not that any one actor was bad, but they weren't equal: I felt the best Chiron was the teenage version in Act 2 played by Ashton Sanders, and the best Kevin was the adult version in Act 3 played by Andre Holland. And yet, the best acting in the film takes place in Act 1, simply because it's the only part of the movie where Juan appears. All of this makes the film feel disjointed, and it really makes the ultimate climax in Act 3 feel ineffective.
The writing and direction of "Moonlight" also suffer from a sense of questionable decisions. The story is a semi-autobiographical account of Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose play "In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue" serves as the basis for this film. Writer/Director Barry Jenkins also dealt with many of the same issues as McCraney, such as an abusive and drug addicted mother, as well as being from the same neighborhood in Miami, and their collaboration formed the essence of this film. I feel bad saying this film is full of stale cliches when it's really based off of the life of real people, and in no way am I'm trying to delegitimize their struggle, but the fact remains that we've seen these kinds of stories before, and in many of those other films, at least the story was palpable.
Real quick, before I continue on that, I would like to commend the original music and cinematography in the film. The scene where Chiron's mother is yelling at him as a child in the hallway comes to mind, the music is spot on, and the colors shining through from the mother's room really set the scene well. The beach scenes shown are beautifully shot, Miami at sundown or after night is a welcome departure from the sun-soaked sand we see in films like "Scarface" or on the show "Miami Vice." This did give the film a much needed boost during lulls in the story.
My biggest problem with the story in "Moonlight" is, well, the lack of a story. Since we see Chiron at many different points in life, we never get to focus on one singular point, which makes the next act feel unwelcome, especially when Act 3 begins. I give the film credit for being unconventional with its approach to story telling, but that doesn't save it from never allowing the viewer to care enough about one point in Chiron's life. Chiron's only friend Kevin also provided a very questionable narrative choice. Midway through the story, Chiron and Kevin have a sexual encounter. Not long after, we see Kevin being pressured into attacking Chiron by the prototypical high school bully Terrel. Kevin and Terrel only have one scene before this, in which Terrel reminds Kevin of a rough game they played as children. Their friendship is far from established, thus making it hard to believe that Kevin would succumb to Terrel's pressure. Sure, Kevin is young and impressionable, but we're never really given a reason as to why he would attack Chiron, other than the fact that he's in high school and wants to impress the cool bully. That cliche may work in other areas of storytelling, but not right after an intense sexual and emotional encounter between the combatants. And what really confused me was Chiron's actions after the fight: he walks into school the next day, takes a chair, and smashes Terrel in the back with it, getting himself arrested for assault. Why whould Chiron attack Terrel? Sure, he was bullying him, but Kevin completely betrayed him, Kevin humiliated him in front of countless other students. They had had an emotional connection like Chiron had never had before, and then Kevin does an unspeakable act of violence towards him. It made zero sense for Chiron to not attack Kevin, and it almost seemed shoehorned in as a way for Chiron to arrive to Act 3, where the story really puzzles me.
In Act 3, we now meet an adult Chiron, who's become a drug kingpin of his new home town. Essentially, he has become Juan. This is the problem: in Act 1 when Chiron and Juan talk about homosexuality at the dinner table, Chiron also asks Juan if he's a drug dealer. Juan looks down and Chiron with such embarrassment and shame in his face, and gives a slight nod of his head. In Act 2, Chiron remains friends with Juan's wife Teresa, who remains a positive role model for Chiron to look up to, to remind him of Juan's love and affection, but also of Juan's mistakes in life. Then fast forward to Act 3, and after the violent retributions against the people who bullied him, and years in what must have been either jail or juvenile detention, Chiron has become the exact thing that Juan looked ashamed at being. With one action that we see, Chiron goes from passive introvert to hardened criminal. So even though Juan was the only good and positive father figure in Chiron's life, it didn't matter, Chiron still chose a path that Juan didn't want for him. I could not follow this character progression at all. Once again more happened than we saw between Acts 2 and 3, but I can't connect with a character that I don't understand.
I feel like I've spoiled a little too much of the film, so I'll skip analyzing the climax of the story in Act 3, but I'll just say this: after an hour and a half of jumping around and poor character development, I felt no emotional payoff of what comes then. A scene plays that is supposed to finally break down the walls that Chiron has built around myself, and should have worked as the crowning achievement of the story, but instead it feels like a hurried attempt to find some sort of meaning behind the last two hours.
Certain themes in "Moonlight" remind me of two of my favorite movies: "Brokeback Mountain" and "Half Nelson." Chiron's journey of sexual and emotional denial mirrors Heath Ledger's character in "Brokeback Mountain." The character has a realization of sexual self discovery, but the world around him doesn't allow those feelings to materialize into a healthy and sufficient lifestyle. He's constantly reminded that society won't agree with who he is, and this walks him down dark and downtrodden paths. The relationship of between Chiron and Juan, as well as Chiron and his mother, reminds me of "Half Nelson." In that film, Ryan Gosling plays an inner city drug addicted teacher who strikes up a unconventional friendship with his student. Much like Juan being an unconventional father figure, the relationship between teacher and student feels uneasy at times, but in reality is providing each of them with the love and affection they both need. It doesn't overly bother me that "Moonlight" uses themes and story ideas that I've seen before, but I guess it kind of shocked or startled me. All I heard from people I know and leading film critics about the film was that it broke new ground, that it shined a light on issues that we don't see enough it film. A young black gay man dealing with personal and sexual issues does sound new and refreshing. But as I peeled the layers of "Moonlight" back, I saw an overused story, with confusing character development, and an ending that literally left me shaking my head.
Let me just end this by saying how upset I am that I didn't enjoy "Moonlight" as much as others did. I was really looking forward to it. I enjoy films about youth and discovery filled with passionate emotion. I especially enjoy coming of age dramas like "Stand By Me," "Thirteen," and "Almost Famous." Those films had plots and characters I could connect with, that I felt emotional resonance towards. "Moonlight," to put it simply, bored me. I was never compelled by Chiron's journey of self discovery. I was never wowed by the story or by Barry Jenkins's direction or writing. It had good performances, but not good enough to overcome its faults. Maybe in the coming years my thoughts will change or grow on it, but for now I'll just have to admit the truth: I am not a fan of "Moonlight." It's not a bad movie, but it's certainly not a great one either. Please don't hate me for it.
