Barry Jenkins, African American, and Lulu Wang, Chinese American, are one of today’s Hollywood power couples! Barry is an award-winning film director, producer, and screenwriter and is probably best known as the director and screenwriter of the 2016 Academy Award winning film, “Moonlight”, and the director, producer, and screenwriter of the 2018 film, “If Beale Street Could Talk”. Barry also directed the 5th episode of the Netflix series, “Dear White People”. Lulu was born in Beijing and moved to Miami, Florida with her family at the age of six. She is fluent in both Mandarin and English. Lulu directed and wrote her first feature-length movie in 2014, “Posthumuos”, and she also wrote and directed the critically acclaimed 2019 movie, “The Farewell” which did very well on the Asian Film Festival circuit and was released to general theaters in July of 2019. Barry and Lulu started dated quietly in 2018 and first started doing red carpets together in early 2019. We wish Barry and Lulu continued success and incredible happiness!
Barry Jenkins’ near perfect film Moonlight did not need anything but faces and lyrics to engulf its viewer into some jaw dropping and mind boggling scenes. It tells us a story of a young, black, gay, poor and lonely kid, Chiron, living in Miami. The film pans over three parts, with three actors playing Chiron in his different stages of life. It is a character study of a boy who is trying to find his place in a world which has been nothing but ignorant to him. The films’ complex themes of sexuality, family and masculinity are portrayed by the characters with such care and precision. It puts us into a very difficult world and tries to question our whole social structure. Jenkins use faces and water to talk with the viewers about the evolution of Chiron from a child to a man. Water acts as a symbol for transformation and freedom. Whereas moonlight is shown as something under which, one can discover their true identity. The concept of masculinity is vital to the film’s exploration of Chiron’s identity and the societal forces that shape it. Jenkins gives us the visual proof of ‘some things are better left unsaid’. He uses close ups in this movie to invite us into these characters’ world. Juan(a drug dealer) and Kevin(Chiron’s friend) both presents Chiron with examples of standing up for oneself. When faced with the prospect of answering who are we against the grim need for change, personal acceptance seems like the only solution.
I always love a piece of art that emphasizes our traditional and cultural beliefs and poses questions that we never even cared to consider.
It is a film that anyone can watch without any specificity and it will leave them touched.
