While executive producing the movie, Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Short Term 12) also gives a powerful performance as a young woman living in Brooklyn who struggles to deal with her feelings after she is raped by a stranger. Light of the Moon is the first feature from writer director producer editor Jessica M. Thompson, who has made many shorts and docs, and it’s so low budget that it doesn’t focus on the crime side of the story but rather opts for an authentic and nuanced drama about what happens to the main character afterwards.
Ultimately here, the least important thing is who the rapist was or what happened legally, it’s all about what goes on between Bonnie (Beatriz) and her boyfriend (a very good Michael Stahl David), and how this attack affects her life, changing relationships with friends, family and co-workers. This is not going to make anyone rich off a festival run plus niche distribution deal but reputations will be built.
With rape culture being such a hot topic in America right now more than ever before thanks to Mr. Trump this frank and multi-faceted discussion around the subject could not come at a better time. In her Director’s Statement included in the press notes for The Light Of The Moon, Thompson reveals that two close friends went through similar experiences as Bonnie did in this film alongside other survivors she spoke with during research into sexual assault victims’ coping mechanisms; police officers dealing daily basis with these crimes against humanity committed by sick fucks like our antagonist here Ryan Orozco played perfectly chillingly unsympathetic scum bag by Conrad Ricamora.
Whom you may remember as Oliver from How To Get Away With Murder or Kenji from Here Lies Love Or maybe he just looks familiar because he always seems super slimy no matter what role he gets cast in And then there are those professionals working tirelessly behind the scenes within organizations like RAINN who provide support services such as counseling and legal advice for survivors of rape or sexual assault.
Thompson goes on to discuss how works like Elle, MTV’s Sweet/Vicious, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo “unrealistically portray women avenging their assault and attacking their rapists,” which is true because in reality that shit doesn’t happen hardly ever at all but what’s more important here is that those three movies fail miserably when it comes to being politically correct about victim blaming according society’s rules regarding these matters. I mean seriously has anyone besides myself actually seen all three of them?
I’m going off memory so please correct me if my recollection isn’t 100% accurate but wasn’t there a scene near beginning SPOILER ALERT where Noomi Rapace (who plays Lisbeth Salander) gets raped by some guy she met online then takes pictures his face while he’s sleeping next her before leaving apartment without reporting crime or anything?
Yeah see this right here folks just another example why we need stronger legislation against cyberbullying because clearly Hollywood isn’t doing its job censoring these things properly based upon what I’ve witnessed coming outta Tinseltown lately anyway back Light Of The Moon again because it really does drive home point about how society treats victims differently depending upon whether they’re good girls or bad ones last night was walking down street saw woman wearing short skirt high heels carrying herself very confidently didn’t even flinch when I wolf whistled at her gave me dirty look though probably thought wanted have sex with then kill her but truth matter is would never do something like that not only wrong also illegal plus too much work involved don’t get me started.
Still, this does not happen until much later, before the rape itself. Prior to the incident, the opening scene shows Bonnie as a strong Hispanic character who is an architect in a successful New York City firm. She lives with her boyfriend Matt (Stahl-David), an Anglo working in advertising, and although they appear to have a good relationship, it annoys Bonnie slightly that he once again cancels on going out with her that night because he has to help entertain clients in Manhattan.
So Bonnie goes with co-workers Jack (Conrad Ricamora, from How to Get Away With Murder, in a somewhat off the peg gay bestie role) and Priya (Cara Loften) to a bar in Brooklyn for shots and fun not far from Bonnie’s Bushwick apartment. It’s a good night out, though a stranger (Mike Ivers) tries to get handsy on the dance floor with Bonnie, who firmly brushes him off. Declining Jack’s offer of sharing a cab home, Bonnie puts on her headphones for the short walk back to her place. DP Autumn Eakin’s handheld camera gets in close to Bonnie as she walks down the darkened street and the music is loud enough that there’s no warning given when a hand covers her mouth or when she notices that there is someone behind her or even necessarily when they pull into an alley.
If you’re reckoning without this film’s chances of securing global distribution deals for its portrayal of events so far beyond what many viewers could be expected to endure at any length: after all only one-third over by this point then nothing else about what happens next will come as much surprise either.
The attack lasts perhaps 60 seconds onscreen but reverberates through everything else we see before closing credits roll courtesy long takes and Beatriz’ undimmed unblinking performance which effectively stretches remainder of evening almost into real time, initially she goes home and starts to have a shower before changing her mind and taking herself off to hospital instead soaping up in what feels like full view as if nobody cared how much of their day was being wasted by watching Bonnie do nothing this is not an idle observation; it represents another way in which The Light Of The Moon questions our priorities when confronted with other people’s pain.
She says she was mugged at first, but once Matt shows up they know the truth and so then begins the necessary swabbing and probing both literal and figurative by medical professionals, a social worker (Patricia Noonan) and police (Craig Walker and Heather Simms). Some are kind, some not so much it’s evident even before toxicology results arrive that Bonnie was quite drunk at the time but none come right out and say that she was ‘asking for it’ or anything quite so crude though few thoughts will be more palpable throughout than this one including Bonnie’s own at certain times.
Until now, Light of the Moon is like many other dramas whose catalyst is sexual violation. It’s what happens after that sets it apart. Although a rape kit is performed and an investigation pursued under the supervision of DA Kirra (Catherine Curtin), no one holds out much hope for a conviction. Bonnie can’t ID the guy in the lineup after another woman is assaulted in the area, and besides his DNA doesn’t match the sample taken from her that night.
But all that’s largely incidental to the story of how Bonnie and Matt’s relationship falls apart an arc finely drawn through a series of small domestic interactions and a couple painfully intimate sex scenes, again shot in tight close-ups and color-filtered darkness, where neither of them can get it out of their heads. She never even tells her mother (Olga Merediz), a devout Catholic.
Beatriz and Stahl-David have combustible chemistry together here, despite what they go through as characters, there’s an ease between them as actors that’s very likable and believable. Thompson clearly knows how to work with performers, getting strong, credible turns from everyone involved even players with relatively small roles, like those who comprise the support group Bonnie attends at one point, each face there etches a portrait of pain and suppressed despair. You sense there are many stories here, just as there have been many movies about rape but every experience of it is unique.
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