Moonlight (R)

The stories that are easiest for us to relate to are often the most specific. The story of a poor, black, gay man growing up in a bad Miami neighborhood is a not a familiar experience, but the execution is able to tug at different heartstrings in each person. Every artistic choice throughout the entire film was made with a specific intent and aesthetic in mind, and this creates one grand piece of heartbreaking yet life-affirming art, unlike and above any other Best Picture nominee this year.

La La Land (PG-13)

“La La Land” is single-handedly the best-made film of the past year. On the surface, audiences get an enduring, developed, and unique love story with a strong dichotomy between traditional musical and progressive realist elements. Beneath all this is a fortified foundation that connects to a specific yet dramatically under explored part of the human condition: ambition. In this story of conflicting goals, ideals and dreams, viewers are finally offered the ultimate paradox cinema has to offer: fantasy and reality