Earlier this year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences faced a torrent of criticism when, for the second season in a row, it nominated only white actors and actresses in the four performing categories. Academy voters looking to address that imbalance this year will be all over Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight, an intimate and haunting drama about a poor, fatherless African-American kid growing up in the closet in the predominantly black Liberty City neighborhood of Miami. No less than three fine young actors play the boy at age nine, 16, and 26, and another three play the schoolmate whose fate is intertwined with his. Naomie Harris gives a striking performance as the boy’s angry, crack-addicted mother. But the strongest work comes from Mahershala Ali (Netflix’s House of Cards) in the supporting role of Juan, a neighborhood drug dealer who takes the boy under his wing. Ali’s character may disappear from the narrative after the first of its three chapters, but he continues to shape the boy’s emotional journey to the very last scene.
Ali gives a restrained performance that, combined with the character’s altruism, suggests great moral strength. Yet something in Juan’s swagger betrays the prideful element in his generosity, and Paula’s shaming of him is nothing compared to the comeuppance he receives in the first chapter’s final scene. Little, seated at the kitchen table in Teresa’s apartment, asks the couple why his classmates are calling him a “faggot.” They assure the boy that he’s too young to know if he’s gay—as Teresa puts it, “You’ll know when you know.” But just as they seem to be resolving his question, Little turns to the subject of Juan’s identity. “My mama does drugs?” he asks, and Juan confirms his suspicions. “And you sell drugs?” the boy continues, to which Juan, staring at the table to avoid Little’s gaze, can only reply, “Yes.” Without another word, the boy gets up from the table and walks out, leaving Juan to choke on the moment.
Directed by Barry Jenkins. R, 110 min. Century 12 and CineArts 6, Landmark’s Century Centre, River East 21
