Moonlight v La La Land: Who's really Best Picture

History often forgets the movies that best won best picture in favor of another film that was overshadowed that same year. In the 70s One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest won over Jaws, in the 80s Charriots of Fire beat Raiders of the Lost Arc. Continuing in the 90s Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan and finally last decade A Beautiful Mind beat out Lord of the Rings. My point here isn't that any of these movies were better than the films that one best picture in their respective year, rather that these films went on to make a larger pop culture impact than the film they lost to. I love Cuckoo's Nest, but Jaws changed the hollywood landscape and you'll be hard pressed to find anybody who hasn't at least heard of Spielberg's masterpiece. I believe for better or worst La La Land will follow the same trend in spite of Moonlight winning best picture. Moonlight may have been the better movie but La La Land is the one more worthy of being celebrated and therefore remembered.

Comparing both movies each side by side, both worthy of praise and both contend fiercely in a shortlist for my favorite movies of the year, but with all that said Moonlight is the better movie. If you read my review then you'll know I thought there were no standout performances in Moonlight, instead every actor elevates each other actor elevating everybody in the picture; its hard to pick out a best preformance when they are all equal powerful in their own way. La La Land on the other hand does have its standouts, Emma Stone gave the best single performance of the year and the cinematography is nothing short of classic. La La Land is best represented as a brilliant cinematic tribute but Moonlight demonstrates mastery in all technical and dramatic elements.

So here I am saying Moonlight is the better film but La La Land deserves best picture, what sort of bias do I have for stating my logic. Well it goes back to my thoughts from paragraph one, La La Land is celebrated by audiences and cinephiles alike, it message and medium is multigenerational and universally significant. Moonlight, while boldly designed and expertly executed, has been viewed only by a fraction of the population who has seen La La Land, and while the popular film isn't the film that should take best picture, there is something to be said of a movie that resonates within pop culture as apposed to a movie that is isolated from it. My hope is with time more and more people will get to expierence Moonlight now that it stands amongst giants, but my expectation is that it will forever live in the shadow that La La Land has casted. In the end however, like most of my thoughts, time will reveal to us the answer. Should Moonlight resonate with me and others many years later than my resentment should subside, only the test of time can tell.