Moonlight

I didn't know what to expect from this film at all, and I must say that in the end, I was perhaps hoping for something more. However, it once again confirms that even a slow pace can engage viewers and keep them captivated throughout. An intriguing character development, where it's almost a pity it wasn't captured in a real actor's adolescence like in the case of the film Boyhood. (12/02/2017)

Tailor-made black Oscar-bait. An attempt at a great little film that tries to portray the plight of an exceptional individual on the edge of standard society and his integration into mainstream life despite his gay "handicap". Not that the narrative was impersonal and the camera twists unimpressive, but as a gay-themed film, Brokeback Mountain was a class act. As a story of childhood and growing up in a black community, it's good, but the really resonant scenes are few and far between, and there are quite a few clichés, especially when it comes to the outlining of the secondary characters (a bad mother, problems with classmates). Thumbs up especially for the solid performances and interestingly laid out story stages, where paradoxically the most important events happen outside the viewer. There are thematically similar films that are far fuller in feeling and more nuanced in their relationships. (08/04/2017)

I liked Manchester by the Sea better. It was emotionally richer and the relationships were rendered in more detail. Moonlight speaks of delicate things in a harsh environment in a commendably delicate way, but also too elliptically. It uses the poetics of artsy visuals, slow motion and static face shots where it could have expressed itself openly. I recognize the director’s skills in guiding the actors as well as the actors’ quality performances. I enjoyed watching the lead character’s transformation in three different stages of his life, examining his inner development. But I’m unmoved. The Oscar fervor about Moonlight is more political than deserved, a reaction to last year’s racial fiasco. Despite that, it’s good that it happened, if only because of the current moods in the world spread by its leaders. (27/02/2017)

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* (27/02/2017)

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. (22/02/2017)