Friday, November 22, 2024

Moonlight

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... La La L-sorry, Moonlight!

Original image located here. Accessed 22nd November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 89 (2016)

I have spoken many times how I doubt the movie-going public will ever forgive Shakespeare in Love for winning Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan. So how does said public feel about Moonlight winning over La La Land? Granted the circumstances of that victory were different but it isn't much of a stretch to imagine at least some bitterness.
But in a way, perhaps it was fitting that Moonlight won instead of La La Land as it represented a change of the times: The musical - a genre that has been a tried and tested Oscar winner - lost out to something different and radical.

I said last week that the 2010s represented a time when message movies were gaining traction at the Oscars and this is no different. It shows the life of a gay black man, from childhood to adulthood. Granted such experiences are completely foreign to my own but I was still very impressed with this movie. It certainly has a sense of solemnity to it that is akin to being in church and it is fascinating to see life play out in such a manner. It is also compelling to see one's choices in life and, at the end of the movie, the offering of the question of what one would do differently.

Really this movie is a triumph of taking very little and doing a lot with it. Indeed, there's something to be learned from that..

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