Oct 28, 2016

Write a review on letterboxd when you do.

 

Oct 29, 2016

I'm with @FilmAndWhisky on Moonlight. It's really, really great.

 

Oct 29, 2016

Trying to see it tomorrow.

 

Oct 29, 2016

I NEED moonlight in my life.

Also, Zach Clark's Little Sister is really endearing, darkly humorous, and cleverly subversive. One of the best film i've seen so far this year.

 

Oct 31, 2016

Hey Guys! Someday i hope i'll be able to dedicate time to this again. Miss the good ol days of watching a shitload of films per week

 

Nov 1, 2016

Movies on my radar for November:

November 4- Doctor Strange (Scott Derrickson), Loving (Jeff Nichols)
November 11- Arrival (Denis Villenueve), Billy Lynn’s Halftime Walk (Ang Lee), Elle (Paul Verhoeven), The Monster (Bryan Bertino)
November 18- Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan), Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford) , The Eyes of My Mother (Nicolas Pesce), The Love Witch (Anna Biller)
November 23-25- Allied (Robert Zemeckis), Miss Sloane (John Madden), Evolution (Lucile Hadzihalilovic), Lion (Garth Davis), Always Shine (Sophie Takal)

 

Nov 1, 2016

Also, FilmStruck has launched!

http://www.filmstruck.com/

 

Nov 2, 2016

Todd Solondz's Storytelling (2002) is his 8 1/2 (1963). I wish I'd been around to see its reception. I'm sure it was a stunning s--- show. Its tackling of PC culture feels as relevant today as ever. Highly recommended if you've seen his earlier work already.

Children of the Corn (2009) is easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen. @Pinhead

 

Nov 13, 2016

Right Now, Wrong Then is incredible, a riveting tale on the power of honesty, personal narratives and the way reflection influences cinematic ones. I need to check out more Hong Sang-soo.

 

Nov 14, 2016

Moonlight 2016
★★★★★ Rewatched 10 Nov, 2016

Piece published on Aesthetics of the Mind:
bit.ly/24snzSn

On second viewing, I confirmed that Moonlight is truly a contemporary masterpiece, and currently the best film I've seen in 2016. My truncated review of past explained my primary observation: that the camera searches for and amplifies the quiet peace found in fleeting moments of connection with others. Herein, I wish to elaborate.

Though presented as a conventionally structured coming of age drama with three distinct chapters, Moonlight is far from a generic growing up story. Surely its structure is part of the mold, but the film stretches so far beyond the mold—through profound subtext, through subtle gestures, through inspired camera movement, through resonating visual and musical motifs—that it becomes difficult to capture in words how exactly it operates, and any attempt to describe Moonlight's intricacies would be a disservice to the film as a whole. But, alas, I will attempt to form a tapestry of highlights by describing some of its details.

The "quiet peace" I name is summed in the film by Kevin's speech to Chiron on the beach, just before they kiss. He says that he loves the cool breeze, it brings a peace. "it feels so good", he states. Kevin's not merely talking about the literal breeze of cool air but about a certain state of feeling, a feeling of peace, the kind of peace that can be found in that moment just before a kiss, or while letting go holding hands. That peace is a fleeting feeling of love and connection with another person, and the cool breeze is a physical reminder of that peace because it brings out a similar moment of stasis, of pleasure, of feeling connected. That beach, where Chiron learned from Juan how to swim and where Kevin opened his heart and touched him, would remain special to him. These are few of the moments of real human connection which he would nostalgically consider when plunging his face in a sink full of ice or when peeking his head in the freezer.

This conveyance of fleeting human connection is the key theme of the film, and Kevin's speech is the key scene. The cinematography follows in such a way to support this theme. Throughout the film, which is made up almost entirely of dialogues, there is no shot-reverse-shot editing. In most frames, the handheld camera slowly moves from one character's face to the other then back again. Each time the camera transitions between characters it forms an invisible line connecting the characters in the world in which they coexist. The camera thus serves to make equal and make connected their conversations. This is especially noticeable during the conversations between Chiron and Juan in the first part, and Chiron and Kevan in the following two. Often times when the camera glides between these two characters it nearly halts between them, as if searching for that peace, that euphemistic cool breeze, that connection between them. The characters almost appear as if in slow motion, such as when Chiron shakes Kevin's hand after getting dropped off or when Kevin wipes his hand in the sand: their hands and the camera linger for a moment of quiet peace.

This languid rhythm coupled with moon lit night scenes and a strikingly cool blue colour pallette work together in forming an indelible mise-en-scene, one which conveys a great sense of sincerity and contemplation. What it contemplates; however, is not always readily obvious. While critics have been quick to reveal Jenkins intentions of exposing African-American masculinity and the further complexities of growing up a h---------- black male from a rough neighbourhood, Moonlight is truly about much more than mere portrayal. Being black and h---------- feeds into its plot, but what makes the film so strikingly relatable is how subtle these stereotypes are played. Viewers can see that Chiron is black, but this is never part of the conversation within the film, and neither is his sexual orientation. Besides one brilliant scene wherein Chiron asks Juan 'what's a fa----', to which Juan compassionately responds that 'you can be gay, it's alright, but no one can call you fa----', there is no need for pedantic #blacklivesmatter or #homosexuallivesmatter conversation.

Moonlight is one of few films which has done 'black films' and 'queer films' right, and it did so by removing the stigma while still acknowledging its existence.

What's more powerful is the film's love story. As children, Chiron and Kevin are seen play-fighting. Kevin tells him, "I knew you weren't soft, Little", and they run away together. Their fight, which is shot with somewhat erotic tones, is perhaps the first time Chiron felt that he might be gay. In wrestling with Kevin, he felt his body; he later asks Juan "am I a fa----'. Surely this is because others have been insulting him, but surely too it is because he feels something inside of him. When they're in high school, Chiron gets his chance with Kevin, and when they grow up he's still with him in mind and later in flesh.

The shot immediately before the surreal finale of Little on the beach is one of Kevin holding Chiron's head on his own shoulder. It is an exact mirror image of the shot in Chapter 2 when Kevin holds Chiron's head after fondling him. The visual rhyming between the three chapters, from wrestling to fondling to holding one another are mere instances of a love which, to Chiron, a young black man from Miami, is forbidden. And so he lives a life where he rejects these thoughts. They remain behind closed doors and at the beach, and he takes advice from Juan in "choosing [his] own life". He wears fronts because he is a front. Black is not Chiron; Chiron is Chiron. Kevin sees this now; he spawned the nickname 'Black' which Chiron adopted into his trapping lifestyle, but ironically it is Kevin as an adult who is able to give him his name back. He calls him Chiron; he sees him how he is. Together with Kevin, Chiron can take down the fronts.

96/100 - Masterful
5 Stars

5 likes

 

Nov 14, 2016

Well said! I was in a state of bliss after it ended.

Great review @FilmAndWhisky , I was already a big fan of Moonlight, but I look forward to revisiting with your thoughts in mind.

On another note, this Jackie trailer looks intense...

 

Nov 14, 2016

Agreed. This director actually has a number of historical pictures under his belt. Anybody seen one? I'm planning on checking out The Club tonight.

 

Nov 14, 2016

I've only seen No so far, which is dope. In addition to The Club and Jackie, he's also got Neruda this year as well.

 

Nov 15, 2016

The Club is pretty darn good:
http://nextprojection.com/2015/09/29/viff-club-highly-daring-thriller/

Looking forward to Jackie and Neruda as well.

 

Nov 15, 2016

Arrival is pretty thoughtful up until the somewhat-hokey "big reveal."

Rules Don't Apply is deeply interesting in a lot of ways... but it's often puzzling, a strange balance of tone. Feels like there's a longer, better version stashed away in Annette Bening's bedroom (speaking of, seeing 20th century women this wednesday)

im better than @Charlie Work

 

Nov 15, 2016

Lowkey f--- with Tom Hanks now

Bridge of Spies & Sully were haaaard

 

Nov 15, 2016

Criterion Collection: Before Trilogy and Mildred Pierce in feb

 

Nov 15, 2016

Moonlight is an absolutely beautiful film. Everyone needs to see it as soon as possible.

 

Nov 15, 2016

I was going to ask what people thought of this. I was looking forward to it, but left the theater pretty underwhelmed.

Me too. I don't like the movie itself as much as the other two, but Captain Philips is another OG performance.

Been waiting for this!

 

Nov 15, 2016

Moonlight this weekend