Moonlight

Moonlight is a fragile and sensitive film about the wounds of adolescence and the difficult climb out of the fortresses that we build around ourselves against the pain, which applies to everyone, regardless of ethnic or sexual identity. For some individuals, however, it is even more difficult and painful because of their surroundings. The environment of the African-American community in poor neighbourhoods is by no means exceptional in this respect, but it is certainly meaningful due to what we see in terms of masculine patterns of behaviour and roles anywhere else in the world. In his outstanding screenplay, Barry Jenkins explores the theme of personal identity through three time planes and the three names of the main protagonist, which he typically never chose for himself, but at the same time tries to live with. Not one of them describes him, however, and the tension arising from whether he is able to answer the question of who is in the end is thus even more agonising. Moonlight is one of the few films that truly deserves the problematic Oscar for Best Film, as it does not reflect any contemporary trends, campaigns or politics, but rather represents one of the ideals of cinema – a personal and distinctive work that, thanks to the perfect use of the full range of vehicles of expression, from acting through narrative structure to formal processes distilled from various models (admittedly here, for example, Wong Kar-Wai and Hou Hsiao-hsien), resonates deep within us and leads us to catharsis involving personal and general humanistic themes. In addition to that, it exposes us to a tremendous onslaught of emotions, even though it conceals them below the surface most of the time. (05/03/2020)

A homosexual black man in a successful film? Some honest Czechs will pop a vein. To me Moonlight is simply a good film and a quality drama. Though its theme naturally works like automatic award bait, I didn’t feel any cynicism or insincerity from it. It makes for a pretty unpleasant viewing that is painful in many ways, but to be fully satisfied I needed a somewhat stronger final catharsis. (02/05/2017)

A two-part film. Almost everything that is remarkable about it has its downside. Apart from the acting performances, which are the strongest thing that Moonlight has to offer. The division into three parts and the reliance on the outlets come out alternately, in some places an impressive tension arises between the unspoken cause and effect, whilst elsewhere the film feels a little broken or leaky. Laxton's camera, which can conjure up an intoxicating vortex trajectory, sometimes slides into mannerist conventional details. The music sometimes dries out, but sometimes it goes great with what is not directly said (the scene in the restaurant in the third part). It is a problematic emancipation film on both levels - it creates the main character, who is more approximate than captivating. And it speaks of the identities of a minority without deriving them from its relationship to the oppressive majority (like 12 Years a Slave) or making this relationship a main topic at all. Rather than a radical social image, Moonlight is a lyrical portrait of personality changes - and this is where it has considerable limits. The experience from the film is so very inspiring and unsatisfactory... Respect mixed with doubts. (02/22/2017)

Social, racial, and sexual themes are targeted too blatantly, in response to all the criticisms aimed at the previous Oscars. The viewer must root for Chiron, whether they want to or not, because his most crucial scene partner is surprisingly the overacting Naomie Harris. However, I also have an issue with the overall form. It is cleverly chosen, although I cannot decide whether its partial imitation of Richard Linklater's Boyhood is an advantage or a disadvantage. It remains painfully empty when clumsily skipping over plot fragments that interest me much more than the main character's relationship with his unteachable mother. I am still struggling with Moonlight because, while I was enchanted by the exceptional performances of Mahershala Ali and André Holland, they were unable to shake off the loud impression of drama for the sake of drama. (02/06/2017)

Okay, so in 2017, all it takes to win the Oscar for Best Picture is to crudely edit three stages in the life of an uninteresting black gay man, intersperse them with a string of the most overused social clichés about a junkie mother, a wise mentor/dealer, or school bullying, and gild them with a poetic scene about being cleansed in the waves of the sea; all of that without breaking down a single line of the narrative so that the viewer would have a chance to become attached to the main character or to know what is actually being primarily communicated to them. For a story about coming to terms with homosexuality, the film has hardly any sexual tension (well, thank God, actually) and it’s too telegraphic and unsurprising for a confession about adapting to one's environment. The only really pleasing things are the believable actors, led by Naomie Harris, who ironically would be the only one deserving an Oscar, and the polished cinematography, whose synergy with the chilling soundtrack builds a good 80% of the overall depressing atmosphere. My eye was especially pleased by the beauty Janelle Monáe, although here she looked a bit too..... cold. Very weak 3* (02/27/2017)