Originally Posted by
Jim Kelly
Watched MOONLIGHT (2016). It was okay for a depressing movie with a negative message. I have no problem with such movies, I liked JOKER, which had a stronger impact on me, but I knew that JOKER was going to be that kind of movie, all the press for it set me up with that expectation. I had been led to believe from all that was said about MOONLIGHT--it won Best Picture, afterall--that it was going to be a movie that left me feeling uplifted, inspired, with a positive message. Nothing could be further from the truth. You can find some slight bit of iight, at the last second of the movie, if you're looking for it. But if I was a teen, confused about my identity, up against abuse and violence in my life, I wouldn't have that insight--what I'd get out of this movie is "you're screwed"--might as well kill yourself or dull your pain with drugs or join a gang and, above all, hide your real self, even from yourself--because there is no hope.
The thing is, back in the 1980s, I went to several "Out on Screen" festivals and seminars--studying the history of how movies depicted gay life. One of the big tropes is that gay people are doomed--they often end up killing themselves if they come out. The big message in classic movies was that being gay gets you killed or at least destroys your life--so better not be gay! One doesn't expect every new movie with gay character to send a positive message, but kids need some ray of light in their lives. Sending negative messages is not going to give kids what they need to get to the other side. They need some kind of direction. MOONLIGHT just echos the tired old warnings about being black and being gay--I think this gives comfort to the intolerant who send out the very same message, that "those people" are doomed.
Also saw 1917. Yeah okay, give it the awards. It's great, but what I like about it is that it isn't really a completely realistic movie--there's realism in it, but its tale of survival challenged my credulity. It's more like a war story that Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert would tell. But I like those stories. It also has the Greek tragedy rules of Unity of Time, Unity of Place and Unity of Action. As good as the direction and the cinematography are, I think its best feature is the storytelling. Also, I can't see how stuntmen could have stood in for the two main actors in most of their action heavy scenes--for actors to put themselves in so much danger, that deserves a special reward. When I was in the military, we got danger pay for those kinds of actions.