Moonlit night, skin blue. Maybe the connection wasn’t strong enough for this to be the title, but I like a stretch when it comes to clever film titles. I’ll take it. There were many aspects of this film that I was not fond of, though, and I am a bit surprised that it took home the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama. I’ll hit those, and if you don’t want the negatives I’m hitting the best part at the end, so skip to that.
First, since anyone who has seen it is thinking it, can we just talk a bit about the last “chapter” of the film? Chapter III. Black in which the grown version of Chiron looks absolutely nothing like his previous two versions of himself? And by different I don’t mean his hair changed or even that he got a bit bulkier – it had been about a ten year difference at this point – but he does not look remotely similar, he does not act the same, and he does not seem to hold the same values as he did when he was younger. These are what we have come to know and expect from Chiron throughout the entire story, why does he wake up one day and look like the man who turned his life around? From his overbearing frame and stature to his head wrap he resembles this figure in his young life much more than his own self. I guess he is a drug pusher, but where comes the part where he saves some other kid’s life because someone once helped him out? That’s the bugger cliché, meaning I think an actor with some sort of resemblance may have been the better pick.
Also, why the hell was Juan killed off just after Chiron had spoken to him for the last time? It seemed to be set up in a way where Chiron made a decision to no longer speak to him after he realized that Juan was selling drugs to his mother, but instead of it acting as a stand-up move on Chiron’s part or as a warning not to follow in his shoes, Juan’s death was empty and we only know it happened because of the mention of the “funeral”. Speaking of Juan, what was his relationship with Teresa? To be honest they could have been father and daughter or lovers — who makes a relationship unimportant to the plot so damned confusing?
There were some weird stylistic choices, but in all the cinematography was pretty baller. The decision to have the rotating shot around Juan and his friend in the beginning was terribly difficult on the eyes, but I realized after it was a great way to get someone invested in a movie. Use that as a distanciation technique, allow your audience to think “what am I watching why is this happening to my head and my stomach”, have them realize that they are in a movie theatre or on a couch or what have you and that they are living their own independent lives, but in this moment they are watching this movie. Bam. Movement stops, interest piques, viewer gets lost in the film. What an idea.
Also, the acting was killer. Let’s be honest. And I loved the nuance of Chiron not talking much – who can dislike a character who doesn’t even talk? No one.
In all, good film… but a Globe winner? Did not see that coming.
Jen Schofield 