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Naomie Harris

Films in Full Colour #4 – MOONLIGHT

June 28, 2020 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

We, at ScreenFish, believe that we are all created in God’s image and want to show our support where we can to those in the Black Community who continue to battle against systemic racism. While our team strives for diversity, we can always do better ourselves in giving voice to those who need the chance to speak out and be heard. 

In our new series, ‘Films in Full Colour’, we will be examining films that explore issues specifically within the black community. For each episode, my co-host will be Jordan Thoms, pastor of Warden Underground Church in Toronto and our hope is that, through the lens of film, we might be able to shine light on the issues faced every day by African Americans. This week, Jordan and I welcome back Erico Kabongo to talk about male role models, confidence in our identity and sexual stereotyping in the black community in Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight.

You can also stream the episode above on podomatic, Alexa (via Stitcher), Spotify or Soundcloud! Or, you can download the ep on Apple Podcasts or Google Play!

Want to continue the conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

Films in Full Colour #4: MoonlightDownload

Filed Under: Featured, Film, Podcast Tagged With: Barry Jenkins, Black Lives Matter, Janelle Monáe, LGBTQ, Mahershala Ali, Moonlight, Naomie Harris

Moonlight: Best Picture Winner – Who Is You?

February 28, 2017 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“At some point you need to decide for yourself who you gonna be. Can’t let nobody make that decision.”

“Who is you?”

Moonlight

Identity is a central focus of Moonlight, a story that follows an African American character (Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Travonta Rhodes) through three stages in his life. Known variously as Little, Chiron, and Black (those names serve as the chapter titles of the three stages of his life) this character is struggling to know who he is and what his place is in the world. As a child Chiron (his real name) is being raised by a drug addicted mother (Naomie Harris) in a tough housing project in Miami. He’s tentative and uneasy with the other children whotorment and bully him. He is befriended by Juan (Mahershala Ali), a black Cuban American, and his girlfriend Teresa (Janelle Monáe), who become surrogate parents, especially Teresa.

Moonlight

As an adolescent, he’s struggling to understand his sexuality. He is still being bullied, but now because it is assumed he is gay. An old childhood friend, Kevin (also played by a variety of actors through the story), connects with him while all others shun him. Yet a betrayal leads Chiron into a very new phase of his life.

As an adult Chiron seems to have found his place in the world, but it is not the life we may have hoped for him. When he gets a call from someone in his past, he decides to go see where that may lead. Perhaps there is more to who Chiron has become than his outward life would imply.

In each stage, Chiron struggles to know who he is as opposed to who everyone else thinks he is. While this is touted as a study of the African American coming of age experience, it is far more universal than that description would suggest. At each stage in his life there are forces at work on him—some positive, others destructive, still others that have potential to be either. There are people he loves along the way, but those people are often the ones who disappoint him the most. He has to choose the roads he will travel—and the person he will be.

While we might look at Chiron’s life and see the various influences that pushed him, we know that in the end it is Chiron who is ultimately responsible for who he is and who he is yet to become. His struggle for identity is not settled at the end of the film. There may well be more to come than he has allowed himself to imagine.

Photos courtesy of A24

The Best Picture and Original Screenplay winning film comes with the audio commentary by director Barry Jenkins, a take on the making of the film, a focus on music, and the on-set filming in Miami. 

Filed Under: DVD, Film, Oscar Spotlight, Reviews Tagged With: Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, Barry Jenkins, coming-of-age, drug abuse, drug selling, Janelle Monáe, LGBT, Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Trevonta Rhodes

3.13 Finding Ourselves in the MOONLIGHT

February 25, 2017 by Steve Norton 1 Comment

https://screenfish.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/3.13-Moonlight.mp3

This week, Steve welcomes back Audra Grey-Choy and Shelley McVea to wrestle with issues of identity, sexuality and cultural definitions of masculinity in Barry Jenkins’ MOONLIGHT!

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

3.13 Moonlight

A very special thanks to Audra (Adonai Creative Arts) and Shelley for coming back on the show!

Filed Under: Film, Oscar Spotlight, Podcast Tagged With: Academy Awards, Barry Jenkins, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Janelle Monáe, Jimmy Kimmel, La La Land, Mahershala Ali, Moonlight, Naomie Harris, Oscars, OscarsSoWhite

Collateral Beauty – Arguing with the Cosmos

December 16, 2016 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“When something starts with a six year old dying, nothing’s going to feel right.”

Unresolved grief fills and drives Collateral Beauty. The film opens with a joyful Howard (Will Smith) presiding over his ad agency’s Christmas party, reminding his employees that they make connections with people through three key concepts: time, love, and death. Then the film jumps ahead three years. The joy is gone from the office. While others quietly work, Howard spends days at a time building elaborate domino structures, just to knock down the first block and walk away. Obviously something has happened.

Three of his partners, Whit (Edward Norton), Claire (Kate Winslet), and Simon (Michael Peña) watch this, wondering when Howard will snap out of it. The business is beginning to suffer. And they have an offer to buy the agency, but Howard won’t even talk with them. So they hatch a plan they hope will bring Howard back—or if not, be evidence that he is incompetent.CB40594.DNG

They come across three actors, Brigitte (Helen Mirren), Amy (Keira Knightly), and Raffi (Jacob Lattimore), who operate out of a very off, off Broadway theatre (The Hegel Theatre). But perhaps it is the actors who really find them. When it is discovered that Howard has written angry letters to Time, Love, and Death, the coworkers hire the actors to confront Howard as Time (Raffi), Love (Amy), and Death (Brigitte). In time the seeming hallucinations drive Howard to a grieving parent group when the leader (Naomie Harris) connects with him. But it turns out that the three coworkers also have their own issues that need to be addressed. As the co-workers work with the actors to focus on Howard, Time, Love, and Death also seem to speak Whit, Claire, and Simon as well.

Besides working well on the level of plot and character, this is a film that also provides some philosophical depth. (Note the theatre’s name.) As the actors confront Howard as the cosmic personae, the discussions become heated and quickly move into more complex ideas that many films would not want to touch on. Because these are impassioned philosophical discussions, they never become off-putting or overly cerebral. But the film does respect the audience’s intelligence and ability to comprehend that ideas being presented without talking down.15021626_83452_still_2_s-high

Along the way, as Howard vents his rage at the cosmic forces, he gives voice to all the pain and anger that can often accompany grief. That pain and anger includes religious concepts that never seem adequate for people in the time of loss. He is an equal opportunity ranter. He takes on Christian, Buddhist, and secular ways that we use to try to explain away the pain of death.collateral

It should be noted that a simpler film would have just set Howard against his idea of God but, through blaming these non-divine cosmic forces, we can still imply that Howard is rebelling against a divinity he finds inadequate. (Although there is a certain Trinitarian vibe to the trio of Time, Love, and Death.) In this, Howard is the newest incarnation of Job. He is willing to state his case that the way the universe works is wrong. Like Job, Howard receives answers that may be less comforting than he wants, but in the challenge of confronting the questions there is an opening for him to begin to find a way through the pain to see again that there is beauty in the world and his life.

 

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: Edward Norton, grief, Helen Mirren, Jacob Lattimore, Job, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, Michael Pena, Naomie Harris, Will Smith

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