Moonlight (2016)

It's unlike me to go to a screening on a whim, but I had walked past the theater in the afternoon and made a note to see something in the evening. I still have a lot of films to catch up on before the Academy Awards. This one had a more convenient timing than Arrival, as well as more esteem in the AFI's book.

The movie is set and authentically filmed mostly in the Miami area. None of my sources say which decades it takes place in, but from the opening song, I suspect the '70s to the late '80s or early '90s. At any rate, it focuses on Chiron (pronounced shy-ROAN) at three stages: around nine, when most people call him "Little" or "Little Man"; in high school, when he's transitioning between nicknames; and as a twenty-something, when he's adopted the alias "Black" from a...sort of friend, Kevin. In the first two stages, he faces verbal and physical bullies, partly for his scrawniness and partly for his mother's earned disrepute. (Naomie Harris had had a policy against playing such a woman, but she caved upon learning that director Barry Jenkins based her on his own mother.) His best support comes from a relatively noble drug dealer and his girlfriend (Mahershala Ali and Janelle Monáe, again), the former of whom has the only line about moonlight. Then Chiron and Kevin come to occupy special places in each other's hearts....

I almost skipped the "racial" label here, as the few non-Black actors I recall had no speaking or plot-important parts. Nevertheless, we're clearly supposed to see the neighborhood as a ghetto. Chiron is immersed in a culture with no promising path for him, career-wise or romance-wise. Boys all around him value aggression, so Kevin encourages him to toughen up beyond his comfort zone. It's no surprise when he becomes a drug dealer himself.

Don't expect much in the way of plot progression. This is one of those flicks that moves very slowly in order to show just how much the protagonist's life sucks. It feels even slower with Chiron being habitually laconic; it took many minutes before I knew he wasn't mute. That said, I don't really mind: The pace serves the credibility well. But if you're expecting a Black Brokeback Mountain, you may be either disappointed or relieved at how little that aspect figures in.

To my mind, the best element is the cinematography. Once in a while, the camera takes us for a whirlwind ride around a major character. Other directorial choices are similarly interesting, from the varied soundtrack to the three actors of Chiron never meeting so they didn't influence each other. Considering the shoestring budget, the makers must have known they had to be unusually resourceful.

Moonlight's not the most White-friendly Black movie of the year, so I don't expect it to win Best Picture. Still, it beats Straight Outta Compton on that score. It probably tops Fruitvale Station as well. If you're up for a mild downer, go ahead and see it.