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This is the story of a lifetime.

Moonlight, USA, 2016. Written and directed by B. Jenkins (from a story by T.A. McCraney). With Trevante Rhodes, Ashotn Sanders, Alex R. Hibbert, Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris. original music by N. Britell. Length: 111′. Rated: R.

Three moments, childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Chiron grows up in Liberty City, Miami, where he has to try and be himself despite mean friends, a totally careless mother and some troublesome relationships which, effective or not, try to help him be who he really is and more importantly wants to be.

An independent movie about black ghettos and homosexuality. What could be more attractive for politically-driven critics?

In saying this I would never mean to diminish this great movie which is “Moonlight”, but in writing a review on this day after the Oscars, of course, this was something I really wanted to say.

Anyhow, Berry Jenkins writes and directs this incredibly touching story with an incredible quality that I instantly thought about as ‘balance’, ‘equilibrium’. This word, and its different connotations, are maybe the best to describe a movie fractioned into three parts, describing three different moments of the main character coming-of-age and his (not just) inner battle into accepting himself and the world he lives in.

Setting the right atmosphere since the very beginning, we never run away from Liberty City, set to be Chiron’s entire world, with its difficulties and its contradictions, where black people try to live peacefully and quietly, while in the meantime most of them have in some ways something to do with drug dealers or prostitution.

The ‘moonlight’ is a sensation before being a setting in space and time, where Chiron can be totally himself. In each chapter of this well-written story there’s at least a scene in the true ‘moonlight’, but even in full daylight the raging lines between the characters, most of all Chiron’s and his mother’s, are somewhat muffled in the perfect balance of Jenkins’ narration, both written and visual.

Chiron, the centre of “Moonlight”’s universe, is portrayed by three different actors, as his best friend Kevin is. Maybe this has been the true key in finding that equilibrium which would collapse if the main character always appeared to us in the same way, taking most of the movie for himself. Also, the actors can do their parts confidently in the knowledge that Jenkins would take care of the continuity between them, which is another great point.

Moreover, next to the writer and director, there are two actors assuring the comprehension of the passing time: great Mahershala Ali, whose character was way more difficult than it seems (mostly because he wants to make it so, improving his interiority with unpredicted depth), and Naomie Harris, who plays Paula, Chiron’s mother, for a time too short to recognize her something more than a good performance.

As for the music, I honestly think that Moonlight could do well without it, even if it contributes to creating a good setting in quite a few moments with the right (yet again) balance between different sounds and styles.

I cannot avoid saying that I don’t really think this was the best movie of the past year, but at the same time I recognize what the deepest meaning of this movie was, which, as I said above, was trying to open our eyes to a well-known world, the condition of Afroamerican communities, and to an inner problem, how difficult it is, for a boy, to grow up in such environments without forcibly adjust to the others. But homosexuality and black people were honey for critics, and this has been in the end the most political movie that this year could provide for this awards season.

 

DOWNLOAD REVIEW IN PDF: Moonlight, 2016

LEGGI LA RECENSIONE IN ITALIANO: Moonlight – Recensione