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There are a lot of things to be said about it, most of them covered here.
I loved that they avoided most, if not all kinds of tropes and "usual" routes of storytelling, and at the same time, so much of the film and the characters were open-ended. Chiron is the most you know about, and even then...
I loved that the world that these characters inhabited was entirely Black. I think the most a white character did was off-screen, ringing a service bell. Or eating some food at the diner. No lines, though.
I loved the acting. Alex Hibbert (who played Young Chiron) said a LOT with his eyes alone. Trevante Rhodes did a lot to "tie" the current Chiron to his younger self. Again, with his facial expressions. Ashton Sanders perfectly captures the perils of troubled teenaged life. Naomie Harris took you on a journey. Janelle Monae (who I enjoyed watching in the 2nd act) was even good. Gonna have to see what she does in Hidden Figures now. And "Cottonmouth" Ali killed it. In so many different ways.
That actor who played Terrel nailed the (Black) high school asshole role well.
I loved the direction. Jenkins did a good job of building tension and unease, tenderness and respect, and even anger when you needed it. The times where the audio was faded out or removed (like when Chiron's mother shouts on him)... that was a nice touch.
I think one of my favorite parts of this film was watching Chiron with Juan, when he asked him what the word "faggot" meant. There was such an innocence to Chiron then...you take for granted in film. Especially when other kids around him are out there cussing (and doing all other sorts of WTF things), and he doesn't even really talk all that much.
Juan's answer was the kind of answer you would get from a father. And considering the role/influence Juan had in dude's life... it makes sense. It's one of those things that reflects why I quit that word for the most part. I remember starting to read about this part in one of the reviews, then I had to quit; didn't want to be spoiled.
And there are moments like that throughout the film.
It's a very human portrayal of very complex people. About Black spaces. About queer sexual spaces. About how those places intersect; about how the trappings of Black life in America (especially for Black men in particular) affect queer and other marginalized people in the Black space. About the defining of one's self whilst being in a series of "traps". About intimacy, not necessarily sexual, and how men deny themselves. You don't really see that in film. All the while, avoiding the kind of traps that I've come to expect when the words "gay" are hovering around a film. I'll go on the record that I'm glad this movie ended the way it did, that certain scenes went the way they did, and didn't go "Lee Daniels" on us when the door was left open for such things.
Go see it, if you have the opportunity.
Just go see it. Yes, I'm mad. Let's move on.
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