I think it’s safe to say the just-released first look at Moonlight is the best trailer anyone will see today (perhaps unless A24, who made it, and who’ve distributed consistently gorgeous trailers for consistently gorgeous movies, decides to release another this afternoon). Exquisitely shot and almost unbearably melancholy, Barry Jenkins’ fragmented coming-of-age story about a black boy seemingly coming to terms with his homosexuality in the midst of the War on Drugs in ’80s Miami looks equal amounts tender and troubling.
Already this year, A24 has put out the likes of The Witch, The Lobster, Swiss Army Man, Green Room and Krisha (just this year), and as Indiewire points out, Moonlight is their first actual in-studio production, and they’ve partnered with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Studios for it.
The film is based on the play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney, and follows a boy named Chiron from childhood to adulthood in three parts — with the later iteration of Chiron played by Trevante Rhodes and ensemble cast-members including Janelle Monáe, The Knick‘s Andre Holland, House of Cards’ (and soon Luke Cage‘s) Mahershala Ali and Spectre‘s Naomie Harris showing up throughout the various parts of his life.
The film will screen in its international debut at TIFF, and will be released on October 21.
Watch the trailer: