The Cast and Director of 'Moonlight' on Rejecting Easy Labels for the Love Story

Barry Jenkins has heard the comparisons. He’s heard his film called “Black Brokeback Boyz N the Hood,” as he put it. But Moonlight, Jenkins and his cast noted at the movie’s recent Los Angeles press day (watch above), should stand on its own merits, even if it faces some of the oversimplified labels as the so-called “gay cowboy” movie Brokeback Mountain 11 years ago.

“The fact that people want to label this movie as a ‘black gay movie’ irks me a little bit, I’ve got to say,” said Naomie Harris, who plays a young mother struggling with a crack addiction. “When I read it, I didn’t focus on that at all, I just thought, ‘This is a beautiful love story.’ And it’s about our humanity, our shared humanity, and our shared search and struggle for love, connection, and identity.”

Moonlight is a stirring coming-of-age drama that follows Chiron, a young African-American male from a poor Miami neighborhood, grappling with his sexuality at three defining points in his life: first as a introverted boy (Alex R. Hibbert); then as a bullied teenager (Ashton Sanders); and, finally, as physically intimidating twentysomething (Trevante Rhodes).

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“I do think referring to this film as only a ‘gay film’ would be oversimplifying this movie as well,” Jenkins said about the Brokeback comparisons. “Whatever way helps people understand the many things we’re dealing with in this film, I’m all for it. But I don’t want to slight the character, because there are so many things going on for Chiron. And I think that’s why people are finding so many ways to identify with the character.”

As Rhodes added: “It is a story about homosexuality. It’s a story about a community where homosexuality is forebode. So I can see the comparison. But nah, man. It’s a completely different thing to me. I feel like we touch on so much more than blackness and gayness. It’s not disrespectful, but it’s like, ‘Come on, guys. Open your mind a little bit.'”

Moonlight opens in New York and Los Angeles Oct. 21. Watch the trailer: