The plot follows a young boy named Chiron in 1980’s Miami, chronicling him through three major stages in his life. Exquisitely shot and nearly unbearably melancholy, Barry Jenkins” fragmented coming-of-age story about a black boy seemingly coming to terms with his homosexuality in the midst of the War on Drugs in “80s Miami looks equal amounts tender and troubling.
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The film will screen in its global debut at TIFF, and will be released on October 21.
In each segment, Chiron struggles with his sexual identity while various figures move in and out of his life, including his disturbed, drug-addicted mother (British actress Naomie Harris), and an alternative maternal figure, luminously played by singer Janelle Monáe in her big-screen debut. Sumptuously shot and endlessly surprising, Moonlight feels entirely fresh in American cinema for how it grapples with the subject of black masculinity.
Amid the recent programming announcements for fall festivals, one film has quietly slipped into some of the year’s most prestigious slots, setting it up as a possible surprise discovery for the coming awards season.
Produced by Plan B Entertainment (“12 Years a Slave”, “Selma”) and Upload Films, and both distributed and produced by A24 (“Ex Machina”, “Room”), “Moonlight” is an adaptation of playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney’s drama “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue”.
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Moonlight opens on October 21st, 2016.
