Dutch filmmaker Paula van der Oest directs the thriller Moonlight, which is set in Luxembourg but features English dialogue. Thirteen-year-old Claire (Laurien van den Broeck) has just gotten her first menstrual period. She lives in the suburbs with her concert pianist mother (Jemma Redgrave) and psychiatrist father (Johan Leysen). In the backyard of her house, she discovers a wounded young Afghan boy (Hunter Bussemaker), who has nearly escaped his fate as a drug mule. She takes care of his
wounds and they become secret friends. Soon she witnesses the criminals, who are after the young boy and the drugs. They go on the run, followed by a vicious killer (Andrew Howard). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
There's an air of prefab provocation about the whole thing, and viewers should know that the director has a penchant for squirm-inducing images, not all of them strictly necessary.
Not only is the candid (but never prurient) treatment of early-teen sexuality and drug use too hot to handle, but the narrative blend of fairy-tale wonder and nightmare logic feels sui generis.
A contrived, rather unpleasant English-lingo thriller set in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Moonlight takes a precocious love story between a young rich girl and an Afghan boy to kinky limits where few auds will want to tread.
With no common language, these two connect instantly -- perhaps it's the blood -- and embark on an emotionally wrenching journey in this visually appealing, occasionally heavy-handed thriller from Paula van der Oest.
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