Moonlight: No shining star

Ian Murdock

Special to the Village News

Like several films at the end of 2016, Moonlight was awash with sensitive, relatable and highly pertinent content.

Set in the city of Miami, this film traversed the life of a young African American boy being raised by a single mother. In spite of some extremely meaningful performances early on – by the child in his youth, as well as a "strange father like" figure – this story, unfortunately, delivers, not unlike a couple of other films last year, fractured and inexplicable holes.

The story presents a fairly common, though nonetheless heartfelt, family dynamic – with nothing short of a gut wrenching portrayal by the young boy and his older "new friend."

The writer and director, however, jump around so frenetically that plot confusion ensues, as does the loss of impact from the otherwise troubling and challenging upbringing.

While one could see the growing pains and boulder like burdens of this child, the extremely scattered, as well disconnected writing and portrayal of the story, makes any genuine sense of empathy short lived – leaving the viewer (at least this one) scratching one's head in disbelief.

One gaping hole moved the film to adulthood for the boy, leaving pretty much all the filler to the viewer's imagination. Like many people in life, his inner conflicts obviously burdened the man, but continued splintered storytelling, as well a wayward presentation, take the air out of what ought to have been another breath taking story.

Reminiscent of other films this year, the best segments – though clearly limited – were early on, and the latter part of the film, in large measure, struck out.

With lack of cohesive and fluid scene structure as the film moved on, and more "Manchester like" blank stare and drifting moments, another powerful story line seems to have been fumbled.

With all due respect to the riveting acting performances in the initial part of this film, disappointment would be far to nice a word to describe the final product here.

**1/2 (2.5 stars out of five)