''Moonlight'' (2016 film)- Review

Directed by: Barry Jenkins
Released: 2016
Country: United States

Genre: Drama

Rating: 4 out of 5

Review

''Moonlight'' tells the story of Chiron and it focuses on three phases of Chiron's life: the first being Chiron's childhood, the other showing Chiron as a young adult, and the other phase it his adulthood. Being homosexual, working class and living in surroundings where drugs and drug dealers are not uncommon, Chiron has to face a lot of difficulty growing up. The people in Chiron's life include his verbally abusive mother who also happens to be a drug addict; a drug dealer named Juan who becomes a father figure to Chiron; Teresa, Juan's girlfriend who eventually becomes a close friend of Juan's, and Kevin, Chiron's best friend.

At times, ''Moonlight'' can be a very captivating and beautiful film. It is an excellently-written film and is artistic and poetic. A film does not necessarily need a great storyline to become an excellent film. The three actors playing Chiron (Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders and Alex Hibbert) are amazing, each of them good in his own way. Mahershala Ali, who plays Juan, has comparatively less screen presence but he gives a great performance, and so do Naomie Harris- who plays Chiron's mother, a very realistic and strong character- and Janelle Monae, who plays Teresa. The three actors who play Kevin are amazing as well.

 ''Moonlight'' is a quiet film about the difficulties that people like Chiron have to face growing up, and yes, the film has a poetic beauty of its own: it is deeply moving, and although very quiet and unpretentious, it is a powerful film in its own right. This is a great, poetic film and yes, I liked it very much but do I think it should have won Best Picture? Well, that would be difficult to answer: when it comes to the artistic achievement, it is an excellent and powerful film, but I personally liked ''Manchester by the Sea'' much more than this film.