Review: Hidden Figures

Runtime: 2hr 7min
Director: Theodore Melfi
Release Date: 17th February 2017
Rating: PG (UK), PG (USA)

The inspiring tale of three extraordinary women who, despite all the odds stacked against them, made a dent in history by heavily contributing to NASA's space programme when it mattered most.

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The never-before told stories of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson; three coloured women living and working in Virginia, USA during the 60's who stopped at nothing to show a world full of generalisations that they were highly underestimated.

The movie follows Katherine G. Johnson, an exceptional mathematician who is given the opportunity to work as 'computer' at NASA for the 1961-62 missions in the all-important 'space-race'. Alongside her were friends Dorothy Vaughn (computer-turned-supervisor with a knack for programming) and Mary Jackson (a wannabe aeronautics-engineer).

The standard of acting throughout was fantastic; not only did Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae provide us with wonderfully powerful, and terribly funny, depictions of the leads, but a surprise role from Mahershala Ali and an unrecognisable Kevin Costner made for a praise-worthy ensemble (all bar Jim Parsons and Kirsten Dunst, who I felt could have added more to their respective roles).

From cinematography to costume, the entire movie was fairly good - I wouldn't say flawless, but certainly to a decent standard. The plot itself was interesting, and the overtly 'Hollywood' glamorisation was combated with live-footage of the real-life events - which added a nice touch. 

A Pharrell-Williams-saturated soundtrack (and, of course, a musical number for Janelle Monae), the music was fun and fit in well with Hidden Figures as a whole, though I can't help thinking more of a variation (instead of one all-too-often-repeated song) of songs could have been sampled. Either way, Pharrell was probably just happy to be involved.

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Slightly (though slightly-understandably) agenda-pushing, I can't help but refer to similarities to Apollo 13 (the Friendship 7 landing scene reeked of Tom Hanks' blackout) and Octavia Spencer's earlier character in The Help - slightly unoriginal is the point here too.

Nostalgia-inducing - even for those not of the time - and portrayed almost expertly - but arguably too reminiscent of already-done pictures.

7/10

Review: Moonlight

Runtime: 1hr 51min
Director: Barry Jenkins
Release Date: 16th February 2017
Rating: 15 (UK), R (US)

I had the privilege of previewing Moonlight ahead of the its' UK release date (17th February); a coming-of-age tale told spectacularly.

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Many modern dramas in this style tend to be artsy, pretentious and not to my tastes. However, Moonlight managed to tell this story with subtlety and confidence, without trying to be overbearing or arrogant.

This particular depiction follows the life of a young black man from Miami, with the film differentiating between three key phases in his life - 'Little', 'Chiron' and 'Black'. Each phase is performed by a different actor, which worked to the movie's advantage - too often is a child-actor hired for a five minute scene just to jump-cut to its' prominent section of the characters' adult life.

The movie bears witness to Chiron's childhood tribulations; overcoming intense bullying, dealing with his drug-addicted mother (played expertly by Naomie Harris), and coming to terms with his sexuality. Throughout the film, Chiron is consistently an underdog, partially due to his race and homosexuality, but mostly because he is a small, timid youth that allows others to figuratively walk all over him.

Something I couldn't praise more highly is the films' cinematography: it is stellar. Calming or carefree moments in Chirons' life are reflected through soft and slow camera moments, whereas dramatic or tense scenes called for their well-used, rough, jarring shots. Scene transitions were almost always instant, until a moment of pure bliss uses a gradual fade to blend scenes.

Moonlight is very subliminal with its' concepts carried throughout - an example being the change in nicknames for Chiron; representative of his choice of who he is, and reflecting childhood advice given to him by a character named Juan (Mahershala Ali) who he meets as a young boy.

The acting quality was wonderful on the most part; Chiron's actors (Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes) clearly studied each other's mannerisms to portray the characters' likeness perfectly. Kevin, the childhood friend, played by Jaden Piner, Jharrel Jerome and Andre Holland, respectively, was also portrayed well. Yet it is Naomie Harris who certainly needs commending; she was near-perfect for the role, and did an excellent job on her accent.

The film did, however, have some things lacking. The characters of Juan and Theresa (Janelle Monáe) were prominent at the very beginning of the film, but shortly after lacked any presence - clearly only present for the purpose of opening the story. I also found a couple of scenes slightly unnecessary - one scene of a sexual nature was clearly only placed for shock-value rather than substance, and a classroom scene alluding to the HIV virus seemed irrelevant to the plot, but thrown in simply because the films' lead was gay.

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The film also lacked the kind of closure many people like - leaving unanswered questions as the credits rolled. Whilst a sign of intrigue and plot-investment, this also meant the annoyance of open-ended plot points, and left me wondering if the end was justifiable.

All-in-all, Moonlight is an incredibly good movie, with great acting, lighting, cinematography and script. I was pleased to watch it before its' February release date, and would undoubtedly recommend it.

8.5/10