Moonlight is one these movies that I know I should watch, acclaimed by the review, Best Picture Oscar winner (2017), but that I wait years to watch because I need to feel in the mood for a slow/long/grim ambiance.
Now that I have watched it, I think that my expectations might have been way too high.
The story is laid out in three parts separated by ~10 years ellipses and is about Chiron, a boy in a black neighborhood, then teen, then adult. It revolves around his life bringing the subjects to poverty, drugs, bullying, sexuality, etc.
Let's cut to the point. There are major problems with this movie:
- there is close to no scenario as nothing really major happens to the main character besides life (except maybe one thing which is not included in the movie),
- which is okay because I think the movie wants to focus on character building and relations... which doesn't work at all with a main character who barely speaks for 2 hours,
- and whose actor changes twice in the movie, with 10 year ellipsis in between and close to no idea of what happens in that time.
In the end I didn't care about the story, I never felt attached to the main character and because of that subjects raised in the movie feel superficial. It just never clicked for me, but looking at the reviews, it did for some other people.
On the other hand, the image is great, and there are a few very well directed scenes. Acting was good also. It's not really a bad movie, it's just one of those where you wait for two hours for something to really suck you in, then the credits appear on screen and you think, "meh.".
Name Moonlight Release 2016 Type Movie Country USA Director Barry Jenkins Main Actors Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Trevante Rhodes --- Opinion Meh. Mood Slow