I'm not back-peddling, I swear. I've always felt that Moonlight should have won Best Picture at the Oscars this year. Up until the moment it literally took the Oscar away from La La Land, however, I would have told you that the former was 150% going to take the win because La La Land is a)fun, b)musical and c)about how awesome Hollywood was/is. Sure, there's nuance and subtext in La La Land but you can definitely enjoy the film even if you don't care about any of that.

Moonlight, on the other hand, is a)serious, b)grim and c)about how hard it is to grow up as a gay, black man in a world that is more accepting of streetside drug dealers. The symbolism and subtext in the film are incredibly heavy-handed, hard to ignore and vital to the story that the film is trying to tell. I wouldn't use the word fun to describe any part of the film and never once does it say anything flattering about what it's like to be rich and/or famous. If anything, one could even argue that it condemns those who choose money over happiness.

It would have been an easy route for the actors, producers, directors, stage grips, etc. who vote for Best Picture to pick the fun, family friendly-ish film as Best Picture. It is a route I expected them to take given how the past few times a movie about Hollywood has been nominated, it has won Best Picture, for better (The Artist) or worse (Argo). Especially given the current political climate, I thought that Hollywood would rather pick Escapism over Bitter Reality and while Moonlight isn't about, say, an egomaniacal politician being voted into power, I'm still surprised that the Best Picture voters decided to reward Real Life over Fantasy.

Now, Moonlight isn't a picture that can be easily spoiled as it is more about the experience than the story. That being said, I'm not here to tell you about the film itself. I want you to go out and watch it for yourself. It's a phenomenal piece of art that is filled with great performances (one of which is Oscar Winning), beautiful cinematography and so much raw emotion that you'll be dizzy by the end.

What I'm here to tell you is that Moonlight is something you have to see at some point in your life. It is a movie that I think will stand the test of time and be remembered as important. I have not forgotten a frame of the film since I saw it for the first time and on my second and third repeat viewing, I noticed things that I didn't pick up on during my first watch, adding to the vividity of my memory.

Please, go out and watch Moonlight. And La La Land. Honestly, in my opinion, most of this year's best picture nominees are worth at least one watch in my opinion. I want you to track them down, watch them and form YOUR opinion.

Once you do, I'll be curious to hear about it.