MOONLIGHT

Hi. My name is Doris, and I love going to the movies. In fact, I love going to the movies so much, I've been given the opportunity to write a movie review for this very site. Now the movie in question is none other than the prestigious award winning melodrama, Moonlight, which in my opinion definitely stands out from the crowd, as it's melodic grace can give you that poetic feeling while watching it.


Moonlight On Amazon

Across the board Moonlight has set a very inspiring example for movie-makers around the world. As some of you may recall, Moonlight hit it big at the 2017 Oscars. It won for being the best picture, it won for the best supporting actor (thanks to the casting of Mahershala Ali), and another Oscar was awarded for best-adapted screenplay. In total it had eight Oscar nominations, and I'm sure nobody could have imagined that a low budget movie lacking all of the bling, glamour, and pizzazz of a Hollywood blockbuster, would be able to bag the most prestigious awards, while already winning the hearts of most critics.

Even though it didn't rake it in at the box office and faced some tough competition from another movie based on Hollywood's favorite subject matter, namely, Hollywood itself, it did bag all of these awards in a fairly prestigious fashion!

THE STORY-LINE:
Moonlight is actually more of an art film than a full on action-adventure. The story revolves around a black boy spending his childhood in the housing projects situated outside of Miami. Unfortunately his mother is an addict and his estranged father is a drug dealer, and as the story unfolds, we start to witness all of the bullies that the boy has to face in order for him to come to terms and accept his homosexuality, especially when he reaches adulthood. The three stages of his life are subtly portrayed, and we can't help but empathize in the boy's transitions, ranging from a neglected child, to a short tempered adolescent, all the way up to an adult who faces down his oppressors while self-realization dawns. 

THE CAST:
The director of the movie, Berry Jenkins, had the experience of directing only one feature film prior to directing Moonlight. But that being said, he does come across as being a talented director, and he did manage to sculpt the three different phases seen in the main characters life, known as Chiron, each of which were played by extremely talented actors.

Starting from Alex Hibbert: who played the 12-year-old boy; to Ashton Sanders: who played the teenager; and finally to Trevante Rhodes: who played the adult, individually, each actor played their parts exceptionally well, and I thought it very noteworthy that none of them had that much movie experience prior to Moonlight. You might find it surprising that these three guys were never introduced to each other during production. Seems like Jenkins wanted the three phases to be prominently distinct and only he himself could connect the three dots to make the figure a realistic one!

Apart from the remarkably talented main cast, the supporting characters were also played by some outstanding actors. The expertise of Jenkins in the field of direction is extraordinarily brilliant and his techniques are unbelievably efficient.

THE SOBER AND SUBTLE MOONLIGHT:
Moonlight is a movie which doesn't showoff or play for the cameras, and you cannot expect any bling and glamour from it either. The movie is all about the story, the story of Chiron, and how he grows up into an adult and learns about the world in which we live. I'm sure it's a story that will linger in your mind even after the curtains have dropped. Not only because the music strikes the right chords for the movie going audience, but on top of that, the audience also gets to feel and see the life of a boy, turning into a man. You fall in love with those who love him and hate those who don’t. So on the whole Moonlight truly lives up to the phrase, “Less is more”!