Moonlight

It's awards season and the cinemas are chock full of quality contenders; Lala Land, Lion, Manchester by the Sea, Jackie.. I'm trying to work my way through them all.

Perhaps the most interesting of the bunch is Barry Jenkins Moonlight. Adapted from Tarell Alvin McCraney's play 'In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue', it's a powerful coming of age drama well worth it's eight Oscar nominations. 

Shot on a modest budget with a small crew, it took double it's $5 million budget within the first few weeks of release in the US and is set to do the same over here, an amazing achievement for a film without the pulling power of a starry cast. 

Naomi Harris, the only name actor in the cast, shot her scenes in just three days due to visa issues and yet this small amount of time she spent working on a low key independent film will do more for her career than anything that has gone before due to the Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress it has garnered her.