#2. Moonlight
Categorizing Moonlight as a black reading of Boyhood would be to disregard and discount its emotional power and resonance, its career-best performances, and its social importance on the topics of black manhood and homosexuality. Moonlight, writer/director Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play, follows Chiron as he figures out his identity through three brief snapshots. Alex R. Hibbert plays Chiron as a withdrawn nine-year-old coming into contact with hateful language for the first time. Ashton Sanders plays him as a teenager, on the brink of an extremely dark place after years of bullying and societal oppression. Finally, we have Trevante Rhodes as Chiron as a man, a drug dealer, who has learned to live a lie. None of these three actors stand out; they are equally incredible and of one person, despite their physical differences. If there is one actor who stands above the rest, it’s Mahershala Ali’s Juan, a local drug dealer who takes a young Chiron under his wing and gives him a male role model to admire. Moonlight makes zero false moves. Every scene, every moment, contributes to the film’s astounding impact.
Categorizing Moonlight as a black reading of Boyhood would be to disregard and discount its emotional power and resonance, its career-best performances, and its social importance on the topics of black manhood and homosexuality. Moonlight, writer/director Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play, follows Chiron as he figures out his identity through three brief snapshots. Alex R. Hibbert plays Chiron as a withdrawn nine-year-old coming into contact with hateful language for the first time. Ashton Sanders plays him as a teenager, on the brink of an extremely dark place after years of bullying and societal oppression. Finally, we have Trevante Rhodes as Chiron as a man, a drug dealer, who has learned to live a lie. None of these three actors stand out; they are equally incredible and of one person, despite their physical differences. If there is one actor who stands above the rest, it’s Mahershala Ali’s Juan, a local drug dealer who takes a young Chiron under his wing and gives him a male role model to admire. Moonlight makes zero false moves. Every scene, every moment, contributes to the film’s astounding impact.