Mahershala Ali Alex Hibbert Ashton Sanders Trevante Rhodes Naomie Harris Janelle Monae Andre Holland
This is an artfully rendered film in which the
viewer participates by filling in details that are omitted from the storyline,
which proceeds from the main character’s childhood to adulthood. Little/Black/Chiron is the character
named differently, depending on his age and the section of the movie. (The three very fine actors are Alex
Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes.) Little is picked on as a child because he’s not “hard”; he
gets bullied and teased for being a “faggot”, and rarely stands up for
himself. His only friend Kevin
(Jadon Piner, Andre Holland, Jharrel Jerome) tries to help him by telling him
to fight back, but even in high school, he remains passive. He’s a boy/man of few words, although
the considerable turbulence inside shows on his face to an astute observer.
When
a kind-hearted drug dealer Juan (Ali) finds Little in a “drug hole”, he makes
an effort to befriend him, find out where he lives, and who his parents
are. But Little is mostly mute, and
it takes Juan’s girlfriend Teresa (Monae) to draw him out enough to find out
where he lives. When Juan takes
him home, much is gradually revealed, and we begin to sort out the
relationships in the community and why Little’s life is so hard. We see Juan taking him under his wing,
realizing he needs a father figure (which shows up later when Chiron adopts the
appearance and occupation of this most important man in his life).
The
switching of actors (three for Chiron and three for Kevin) makes following the
story a bit difficult, especially since Chiron says so little, but the actors
are so skilled it doesn’t take long to sort it out. The pace of the film and Chiron’s reticence is skillful in
eliciting our empathy, and will hopefully have the effect of helping more of us
understand and have sympathy for those caught up in the drug culture in poorer
neighborhoods and the trials that gay people undergo even at a young age. This is a picture of a segment of
society that few of us have seen so tenderly portrayed.
Co-writer
with Terell McCraney, director Barry Jenkins has created a portrait of a boy
and his milieu that is evocative while being so quiet, eloquent while making
the main character Chiron so mute, and heartwarming in its highlights of
kindnesses shown toward Chiron. Its
style and form seem groundbreaking to me.
An Impressionist painting of a gay child growing up
in a black drug culture that elicits our empathy and sympathy.
Grade: A By
Donna R. Copeland
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