This film is rich in its simplicity.
Chiron (first Alex Hibbert, then Ashton Sanders and finally Trevante Rhodes) has it rough in downtown Miami. He is a homosexual African-American boy who doesn't have a father and his mother, Paula (the excellent Naomie Harris) doesn't care about him enough, picking drugs and men above her only son (and child) any day of the week.
The film occurs in three chapters, when Chiron is about ten, sixteen and then again at twenty-six with the middle half being a stand-out, at least for me. In the first part, he befriends the benevolent and wise drug-dealer Juan (the Oscar winner Mahershala Ali) who doesn't judge the young boy and offers him life-changing advice while the second part is dictated by his first romantic encounter with Kevin (first Jaden Piner, then Jharrel Jerome and finally Andre Holland) only to have it destroyed as Kevin is egged into beating him up, which subsequently lands Chiron in jail after he brutally retaliates. In the final part, his mother finally apologizes for her addiction and not being the mother he needed her to be and his return and re-connection with Kevin.
While I didn't truly enjoy the film and it didn't move me, it is still a great film and talents oozes out the seams with Barry Jenkins proving himself a force to be reckoned with along with the cinematographer James Laxton, editors Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon and the breathtaking score by Nicholas Britell, not to mention the pitch-perfect performances by all and the authentic feel of the film, something that cannot be faked.
I do wish Chiron had done something better with his life rather than becoming a drug dealer himself but I'm glad that a film which shows average people living their lives in a typical America. without the Hollywood glamour won the Best Picture Oscar. Grade: A-
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