Nearly ten years later, even in the wake of recent unconventional winners, it’s still shocking thatMoonlightwon Best Picture.Barry Jenkins' coming-of-age drama was a revelatory cinematic experience, featuring an all-Black cast, soul-shattering humanity, and a slew of awe-inspiring performances, withMahershala Alicoming home with Best Supporting Actor for his brief but deeply impactful performance as a drug dealer and surrogate father figure for the young Chiron (Alex Hibbert). While Ali deserved his flowers, it shouldn’t have come at the expense of snubbingNaomie Harris, who plays Paula, Chiron’s troubled, drug-addicted mother, who we watch evolve across the film’s 15-year span. Harris' mesmerizing, heart-crushing performance was perhaps the ultimate revelation. The actor, a franchise and arthouse staple,proved to be the consummate professionalwhen filmingMoonlight,as her triumphant Oscar-nominated performance was diligently shot in just three days.
Naomie Harris Found Time Between Promoting ‘Spectre’ to Film ‘Moonlight’
Between her appearances in thePirates of the CaribbeanandDaniel Craig-led James Bond franchises, Naomie Harris stays busy, and most audiencesprobably don’t even realize just how prevalent she is in the blockbuster landscape. Although she shined in28 Days LaterandMiami Vice, Harris remained a somewhat untapped resource until Barry Jenkins properly capitalized on her talent. Ever since her performance inMoonlight, Harris, who recently starred inSteven Soderbergh’scool and romantically charged spy thriller,Black Bag, is understood to be one of our most gifted actors working today.
The critically adored 2016 film that shocked the world by winning Best Picture afterLa La Landwas erroneously declared the winneris told in a triptych structure, with each chapter following Chiron, a shy and withdrawn young man in Miami with repressed homosexuality, as a boy, teenager, and adult. We first see Paula, who purchases drugs from Juan (Ali), neglecting to take care of Chiron. When her son grows into adolescence, she turns to sex work as her life begins to collapse due to her substance abuse. In the final chapter, Chiron visits her mother in a drug treatment center, and whether she’ll redeem herself and see the light is ambiguous, but we know that she is heartbroken by how her life has transpired.
Harris packs in a lifetime’s worth of pain, sorrow, and regret in a handful of scenes, and the depth of her performance is even more remarkable considering the condensed timeframe of her shooting schedule onMoonlight, which coincided with the international press tourfor the Bond film,Spectre.She told Vulturethat, while in Mexico City promotingSpectre,she flew to Miami to squeeze in a three-day shoot forMoonlightand immediately returned to the press tour less than a week after pouring her heart and soul into her seismic performance as Paula.While there was no time to languish on set, Harris described Barry Jenkins' direction as “experimental,” often re-adjusting the scene with new lines or actions. Harris, who was only allocated three days due to amix-up over visas, crammed in as much information and research on substance abuse as possible by watching videos on YouTube. The loose, run-and-gun (but still highly controlled) nature of filming speaks to the spontaneity ofMoonlight, where nothing feels rehearsed.
Naomie Harris Packs a Lifetime’s Worth of Pain and Agony in ‘Moonlight’
Moonlightis one of the smallest and lowest-budgeted filmsto ever win Best Picture, and the only way for an indie production to reach the highest levels of prestige is to be surrounded by true pros like Naomie Harris. However, there is nothing sturdy or dependable about Paula in the film. Most directors would vilify her for being a neglectful mother without much pause, but Jenkins, in one of the most sympathetic and nuanced directing efforts in recent memory,finds the tortured humanity within her.While in both hostile and internal pathos mode, Harris is the emotional core of the film, as she expresses the unshakable pain that the reticent Chiron is incapable of evoking himself. Jenkins' film brilliantly shatters racial stereotypes and adds a necessary layer of nuance to the Black experience, andPaula represents the apotheosis of thefilm’s cultural subversions.Most mainstream movies teach you to deplore people like her, but Harris carries the suffocating burden of raising a child while managing personal demons.
By the end ofMoonlight, it feels as though you’ve watched Paula, through merely a handful of scenes, struggle and persevere through a 15-year odyssey.What’s even more impressive is that this exploration of love and suffering was captured on screen in only three days of filming by Naomie Harris.Most actors would need to submit their entire livelihood to intense method acting and preparation to unlock such a powerhouse performance. For Harris, it was just another day’s work.
