Moonlight

Writer-director Barry Jenkins has created an achingly affecting, incandescent coming-of-age story with three different actors playing the lead character. Growing up in a decrepit, inner-city housing project in Miami, scrawny, fatherless 10-year-old Chiron (Alex Hibbert) is dubbed “Little” by playmates, who suspect him of being homosexual. Hiding from schoolyard tormentors, Chiron is discovered by kindly, Cuban-born crack dealer, Juan (Mahershala Ali), who offers him dinner and shelter for the night at the apartment he shares with Teresa (Janelle Monáe). Juan drives Chiron home the next morning and realizes that the boy's mother (Naomi Harris) is a drug addict. “My momma does drugs?” Chiron asks, trying to comprehend. “And you sell drugs?” Compassionate Juan gradually becomes Chiron's father-surrogate, building trust by gently teaching the emotionally vulnerable boy how to swim. By the time he's 16, Chiron's (Ashton Sanders) awkward loneliness has become pervasive. One evening, his only friend, Kevin (Jharrel Jerome), initiates a brief sexual encounter on a beach, but persistent bullying also continues. A decade later in Atlanta, troubled Chiron (Trevante Rhodes) is beefed up with gold dental “fronts” but still grappling with an angst-riddled concept of masculinity. Perceptively adapting playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney's In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, this multiple Oscar-nominated film—including for Best Picture—is a powerful drama that shatters stereotypes of the LGBTQ community. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Barry Jenkins, the production featurettes “Ensemble of Emotion” (22 min.), “Poetry Through Collaboration: The Music” (10 min.), and “Cruel Beauty: Filming in Miami” (6 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus digital and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for this critically acclaimed award-winning film.] (S. Granger)