****
Dir: Barry Jenkins (15, 111 mins)
Barry Jenkins’ noble story of three acts of a black man’s life from childhood, to mid-adolescence, to manhood, manages with extreme sensitivity to bypass cliché; it instead grips and involves as Chiron comes of age. Chiron is played by three different people as he grows, Alex Hibbert is his childhood incarnation, shy withdrawn, worried about his addict mother, an excellent Naomie Harris, and taken under the wing of drug dealer Mahershala Ali. A boy lost who finds some purpose. It’s heartbreakingly observed, even more so as he enters adolescence in the guise of Ashton Sanders, discovering his sexuality and his crush on friend Kevin, leading to violence. The third act sees him as gold teethed Trevante Rhodes, reconnecting with his recovering mother and his adolescent crush. It’s all richly human, full of empathy and the unexpected. An intimate character study, well-acted, well-crafted, and transcendent.
Opens Feb 17