As we close out Black History Month and head into Oscar weekend (an almost ironic juxtaposition), it seems like the perfect time to celebrate Moonlight, Barry Jenkins’ “brilliant, achingly alive work about black queerness” (The New Yorker).
Winner of a surprising Best Picture Oscar, as well as a Best Adapted Screenplay Award (for Jenkins) and Best Supporting Actor for a fully deserving Mahershala Ali (don’t get us started on how Barry Jenkins could possibly have been passed over as Best Director, which would have made him the first—and still only!—African American to win that award), Moonlight is a modern masterpiece. The film follows the life of Chiron, a young Black man in Miami, Florida, as he struggles with his sexuality and identity. The film is told in three parts, or segments, that cover Chiron’s childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
Directed with sublime sensitivity and observation by Jenkins, the film benefits immeasurably from remarkable performances by Ali, Janelle Monáe, Naomie Harris, and all three Chirons—Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes. A fully realized, deeply moving experience, Moonlight is one of the great films of the past decade.