Moonlight

With all the acclaim Writer/Director Barry Jenkins has received for Moonlight, I was expecting something noteworthy.  Instead, I was not only disappointed, but wondered about the taste of those who had been lauding this film. 

The 3-part story by Tarell Alvin McCraney is about a scrawny kid (Alex R.Hibbert), who questions his sexuality in adolescence (Ashton Sanders) and ends up a street dealer (Trevante Rhodes).  Truly uplifting.  Not.

Aside from the downer story, while Cinematographer James Laxton had some interesting close-up shots following around the actors, there were a lot of meaningless shots that, unfortunately, Editors Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders threw into the film for what reason, I couldn’t tell.  And, the Sound team kept us from hearing a lot of the dialogue. But, perhaps that was a service.

I guess you can get that I was not very impressed with this work.  However, the acting was, for the most part, quite good, especially Naomie Harris, who plays his mother.

Still, I can only give Moonlight a 3.3 out of 5.