If you were to distil the troubled life of Chiron, the central character of writer and director Barry Jenkins’ movie adaptation of the stage play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney, into a song title, then you would be hard pressed to find a more fitting one than the Duke Ellington classic I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good) made famous by Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald.

The lyrics of which pinpoint his struggle to string a sentence together and express his feelings: “He don’t love me like I love him, nobody could / I got it bad and that ain’t good”. He being his fellow pupil and childhood friend Kevin who ten years after a teenage fumble in the dark is told by Chiron “you’re the only man that’s ever touched me” and “I haven’t really touched anyone since”. Cue the Eastenders doof doofs.

Split into three chronological chunks of Chiron’s life, each subtitled with his evolving nicknames of Little, Chiron and Black with Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes stepping into the respective sneakers, school shoes and designer boots, Jenkins’ engaging film journeys down the well-trodden path of internalised homophobia and how it can eat you up from the inside, with running being one of the main themes both in terms of action and metaphor.

Running from bullies who deploy the full arsenal of sticks and stones to break his bones and words like “faggot” which do hurt him. Running from a broken home, which comprises of an absent father and an abusive mother Paula (Naomie Harris) who demands his pocket money to feed her drug habit. And running from his feelings, bottling them up and masking them behind a six pack and bling.

It may be a well-trodden path, but the manner in which it is paved by Jenkins’ sparse dialogue, James Laxton’s evocative cinematography and Nicholas Britell’s subtle score, not to mention the nuanced performances from the impressive ensemble including Mahershala Ali and Janelle Monáe as Chiron’s makeshift carers and André Holland as the adult Kevin, imbues the film with a freshness and intimacy, which draws the viewer in and stirs emotion.

And even though the action is brutal and depressing at times – self-hatred, loneliness and beatings ensure razor blades are never far from deployment – Moonlight offers what many gay coming-of-age dramas lack: a sliver of hope, joy and closure. Most movingly and sensitively when the teenage Chiron has his first sexual encounter and the hardman Chiron mans up and expresses his feelings to his one and only love who, in turn, treats him differently from the man in Duke Ellington’s torch song: “sweet and gentle”.

Video courtesy of: A24

Director: Barry Jenkins

Writers: Barry Jenkins (screenplay), Tarell Alvin McCraney (story by)

Stars: Mahershala Ali, Shariff Earp, Duan Sanderson

Peter Callaghan
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