Siraj Syed reviews Moonlight: Silences waxing eloquent

‘Slowly, silently, now the moon

Walks the night in her silver shoon’—Walter de la Mare

In The Color Purple, we realised that black persons appear purple in on some occasions. A character in Moonlight says he was nick-named Blue because he looked blue when seen in moonlight. Others are called Black or Nigger, by their own folk, who are low on self esteem, and susceptible to apartheid, within the segregated race of black Americans.

Based on the play, In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, by Tarell Alvin McCraney, the film won Best Motion Picture--Drama, and was nominated in five other categories at the 74th Golden Globe Awards. And no less than eight Oscar nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s a familiar tale of black destiny, lifted to dizzy heights by the carefully constructed screenplay, and shapes to be a classic, only to take a detour that ends in an emotional cul-de-sac. Not much of a problem for the protagonists, for they seem to enjoying the dead-end that they find themselves at.

Set in Liberty, Miami, this is essential the story of Chiron (Alex Hibbert), a fatherless young boy, called Little after his size, and Black by his best friend, Kevin (Jaden Piner). His mother, Paula (Naomie Harris) prostitutes herself, to meet the needs of the two, as well as to feed her drug addiction. Two good Samaritans appear on the scene, drug-dealer Juan (Mahershala Ali) and his girl friend, Teresa (Janelle Monaé). But they have limited impact on the life of the depressed and head-bent-low, floor-staring scraggly boy, who is regularly picked-on by his school-mates, particularly Terell (Patrick Decile). The bullying wind-millers get their grist when he begins to spend time with Teresa, who takes great care of him. He’s called a faggot and even beaten-up, by the delinquents.

As he grows up, inevitably, he slips into Juan’s shoes and becomes a drug dealer. In another city, he becomes a rather big little boss. Meanwhile, his mother slips farther into drug-abuse and ends up in a rehabilitation centre. Teen Chiron (Ashton Sanders) metamorphoses into adult Chiron (Trevante Rhodes), who is nothing like he was when he was young, except for still being short on speech. His pal Kevin (Jharrel Jerome) is now a chef/waiter in a restaurant, in another city, while Chiron lives alone. He is brawny, and carries a gun. But his quietude stays with him, and he still, often, stares at the floor. One day, Kevin (André Holland) gives him a call, and they decide to meet soon.

Written in 2003, the play found a film interest in 2013. The result was a screenplay that reflected the similar upbringings of writer-director Barry Jenkins (Medicine for Melancholy) and McCraney (born 17 October 1980, incoming chair of play-writing at Yale School of Drama). The character Juan was based on the father of McCraney’s step-father, who was also a childhood (protector) of McCraney, as Juan was for Chiron. Paula was an amalgamation of Jenkins and McCraney's mothers, who both struggled with drug addictions. McCraney and Jenkins, both grew up in Liberty Square, a primary location of the film.

It takes some genius to pick a semi-autobiographical story about blacks in the America of half a century ago, full of stock characters and beaten-to-death situations, and turn it into an immensely watchable film. Although it was originally written as a play (are the three chapters in the film the three acts of the play?), the outdoors blend in seamlessly in the narrative, except for the last scene in the restaurant, where McCraney and Jenkins get indulgent, and carried away.

The compulsive need to make silences and postures speak instead of dialogue does get the better of the writers and director, but in the context of the overall treatment, you can let this pass. Had it not been for these minor deviations, Moonlight would have been a near perfect cinematic experience. Almost all of film grammar text is exemplified, in terms of cinematography--hand-held, tilts, pan-tilts, zooms, slow pull-backs, tracking, track-tilt-pan, unusual angles, mood lighting almost like impressionist painting, and excellent use of dark images.

It was imperative that Jenkins assemble a totally credible cast to make this stereo-typical drama so convincing that you don’t even realise that you’ve seen such stories filmed many times before. And he has picked peaches. Chiron, the film's protagonist, is played Trevante Rhodes (track and field sprinter; first major role), Ashton Sanders (Straight Outta Competition, The Retrieval) and Alex Hibbert as Child Chiron / "Little"; Kevin, Chiron's closest friend, is André Holland (42, Black or White, Selma), Jharrel Jerome as Teen Kevin, Jaden Piner as Child Kevin; Janelle Monáe as Teresa (Rio 2, as Dr. Monae); Naomie Harris (Pirates of the Caribbean, Skyfall, Spectre), Mahershala Ali (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Hunger Games, Kicks) and Patrick Decile. Janelle and Harris probably have a tougher task each, spanning some twenty years, as the two children grow up. Take your pick. And you, actors, take a bow. Oscars, anyone?

Getting into critiquing and critic-nit-picking, there are too many broody-moody moments and the manifestations of homosexual feelings might not go down well with prudential audiences, though Jenkins shoots them in a judicious mix of arousals and subtleties. Some of the one-liners (there aren’t too many) are lost in accentuation, and I envy the few members of the audience who decoded them instantly, as was evidenced by their vocalised reactions. Wonder what fare they had been exposed to or what extra auditory perception they were gifted with! Another strong case for sub-titling English language films in English!                                       

Screen adaptations of LGBT stories are so often in your face and address mainly the sexual orientation issue. Firstly, this film is not a gay/queer/homosexual theme, per se. Secondly, the treatment is as realistic as it gets. Lastly, Indian audiences are watching a sanitised version, with the two seggested sexual encounters, one hetero-sexual and one homosexual, completely excised.

There are phases that the moon goes through, waxing and waning, and then there is an apt figure of speech; the two together best define Moonlight: Silences waxing eloquent.

You can usually hear what is not said.

Rating: ****

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NJj12tJzqc