Composing Greatness: #13. The Freshman Class of the 2010's - "Moonlight" (2016)

Scene from Moonlight (2016)

Welcome to Composing Greatness: a column dedicated to exploring the work of film composers. This will specifically focus on the films that earned them Oscar nominations while exploring what makes it so special. This will be broken down into a look at the overall style, interesting moments within the composition, and what made the score worth nominating in the first place. This will also include various subcategories where I will rank the themes of each film along with any time that the composer actually wins. This is a column meant to explore a side of film that doesn't get enough credit while hopefully introducing audiences to an enriched view of more prolific composers' work. This will only cover scores/songs that are compiled in an easily accessible format (so no extended scores will be considered). Join me every Sunday as I cover these talents that if you don't know by name, you recognize by sound.

Nothing But the Best: "Moonlight" (2016)

Scene from Moonlight

Welcome to the series Nothing But the Best in which I chronicle all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners as they celebrate their anniversaries. Instead of going in chronological order, this series will be presented on each film's anniversary and will feature personal opinions as well as facts regarding its legacy and behind the scenes information. The goal is to create an in depth essay for each film while looking not only how the medium progressed, but how the film is integral to pop culture. In some cases, it will be easy. Others not so much. Without further ado, let's start the show.

Review: "Moonlight" Embraces the Complex Beauty of Black Lives in Exciting New Ways

Scene from Moonlight

Director Barry Jenkins has produced something magnificent with his latest film Moonlight. In an era where cutting edge cinema is often spoken about in a technical sense, he has found a way to explore it in a spiritual sense. With a story that spans three key periods of a black man's life, he has found a new and exciting way to explore the black experience through an art house gaze. With limited exception, the story of Chiron is one that is personal and captures a beauty rarely seen in American cinema. The film's title refers to the way that black skin shines in the moonlight. To say the least, few have captured it as beautifully and artfully as Jenkins has, leading to the question as to why that is. It may only be a small piece of the bigger puzzle, but it is evidence that black lives can be beautiful, even in dire circumstances.

A Few Thoughts on "Selma" as the First Trailer is Released

Left to right: David Oyelowo and Carmen Ejogo

As the race burns on, there's a few names that randomly pop up as late entries. Among them is director Ava DuVernay's Selma, which chronicles the events surrounding Martin Luther King Jr.'s (David Oyelowo) march through Selma, GA back in the 60's. It is an important event and one that seems very opportune for a biopic. With the release of the first trailer for Selma, I figured that I would share some truths: I have already seen this film at an advanced preview. What I say should be taken as opinion, but reflective of how I feel that it will do in the race based on the compiled version, which admittedly was still going through edits at the time about a month ago.