Movie Discussion: Moonlight (2016) by Barry Jenkins
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“Who is you, Chiron?” Barry Jenkins’ sophomore feature Moonlight enmeshes you in a world that centres the margins, compassionately revealing the dimensions these domains possess. Far from the bright lights of South Beach, Moonlight situates itself in a more visceral side of Miami, following Chiron in a trilogy of vignettes through childhood, his teenage years, and eventually adulthood. Tender towards its subjects and uncompromising in the wholeness of their portrayal, Jenkins epitomizes the necessity of cultural specificity in storytelling. From navigating familial dynamics to the intricacies of love, Moonlight defies categorization in its intimate portraitures of Black boyhood and masculinity. (Trailer)
"Jenkins portrays a world so often fetishized and reduced to its most violent outcomes from the inside, with tenderness and Wong Kar-Wai’s influence on his cinematic sleeve." (Chicago Reader)
"A film of rare grace — a tender, compassionate, restrained look at a life lived in the shadows." (The Detroit News)
"Profoundly moving in its portrayal of the moments, people, and unknowable forces that shape our lives and make us who we are." (Rotten Tomatoes)
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Fashionably late for Pride Month, let's discuss Barry Jenkins' acclaimed 2016 film Moonlight, recently voted the 60th greatest movie of all time in Sight & Sound's international survey of film critics and scholars and the 93rd greatest movie of all time in the related poll of filmmakers. It is the first LGBTQ film and the lowest-budget film to (first lose and then) win the Oscar for Best Picture. The film also picked up the Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.
Please watch the movie in advance (110 minutes) and bring your thoughts, reactions, and queries to share with us at the meeting. You can stream it here (check the player settings to adjust quality) or rent it through Criterion or other streaming platforms (for best quality).
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Check out other movie discussions in the group, currently happening about 2 or 3 times a month.
This link here is a spreadsheet of the approximately 200 movies we've watched in this group and my ratings for each. You're invited to share your ratings too if you've watched a bunch of these movies with us. (I can add your list here if you send me a link. You can make your own list on sites like Letterboxd or by copying my spreadsheet and filling in your own values. Note that my list doesn't include every movie that Yorgo hosted on cause I didn't watch all of them.)