Moonlight Review
Moonlight follows the life story of a homosexual African-American man named Chiron in a rough drug-ridden Miami. The movie follows the narrative in three separate sections, each showing different stages of Chiron's life and the problems he faced with his sexuality.
In the first stage of the movie, Chiron is portrayed to be a quiet boy that speaks very few words, this alone already gives the audience an understanding as to how little affection he had received in his childhood, being ignored by his mother and not knowing his father leaves a toll on him as a child which is again portrayed by how he speaks very little, even when he is shown love and affection by Juan and Teresa, but this lack of a father figure opens way to and important character Juan, a local drug dealer, Juan, and Teresa were the only people that cared for Chiron, this effection goes a long way as Teresa then becomes a parental figure for Chiron as his real mother is constantly on drugs. It is also at this age that Chiron begins to slowly realize he may be gay. In the Second chapter of Moonlight, we follow a teenager Chiron hiding the fact he is gay, but hints in the movie (his dream of Kevin having intercourse with a female) may show that he is not entirely sure if he is gay. A very important moment in the movie happens in the second chapter. On the beach, Chiron and Kevin have a sexual encounter solidifying the fact that Chiron is gay and opens the way to the idea that Kevin may become a love interest for Chiron, but this idea slowly begins to fall apart as an antagonist in the movie Terrel forces Kevin to beat up Chiron. This encounter is a changing point in the movie and in Chiron's life as it shows the audience the fear that resides within Kevin of trying to fit in with society. This scene represents the fear homosexuals have opening up in front of others about their sexuality in those times. The final chapter of Moonlight shows the audience a fully grown Chiron that shares a striking resemblance with Juan, his only father figure in the movie. Chiron also follows in Juan's footsteps of becoming a drug dealer and becoming extremely respected, this new lifestyle could be a way for Chiron to try and hide his sexuality from himself and others. But Chiron receives a call from Kevin once again that reignites his feelings for him, opening up feelings Chiron had been bottling up for years, showing that Chiron truly does still care for Kevin. After a final reunion between Chiron and Kevin, the movie ends with a child Chiron looking at the ocean, this final scene again looks at the recurring imagery of the ocean which I do not entirely understand the importance of.
The movie's cinematography has one common thing throughout the movie is that there is constantly camera movement. This movement helps the scenes within the movies remain intense even with the lack of music within many of the scenes in the movie.
Overall I believe that the movie had an excellent message to portray, and it did so brilliantly, but I don't believe that it was necessarily Oscar-worthy as I believe the movie got quite boring at many stages in the movie
In the first stage of the movie, Chiron is portrayed to be a quiet boy that speaks very few words, this alone already gives the audience an understanding as to how little affection he had received in his childhood, being ignored by his mother and not knowing his father leaves a toll on him as a child which is again portrayed by how he speaks very little, even when he is shown love and affection by Juan and Teresa, but this lack of a father figure opens way to and important character Juan, a local drug dealer, Juan, and Teresa were the only people that cared for Chiron, this effection goes a long way as Teresa then becomes a parental figure for Chiron as his real mother is constantly on drugs. It is also at this age that Chiron begins to slowly realize he may be gay. In the Second chapter of Moonlight, we follow a teenager Chiron hiding the fact he is gay, but hints in the movie (his dream of Kevin having intercourse with a female) may show that he is not entirely sure if he is gay. A very important moment in the movie happens in the second chapter. On the beach, Chiron and Kevin have a sexual encounter solidifying the fact that Chiron is gay and opens the way to the idea that Kevin may become a love interest for Chiron, but this idea slowly begins to fall apart as an antagonist in the movie Terrel forces Kevin to beat up Chiron. This encounter is a changing point in the movie and in Chiron's life as it shows the audience the fear that resides within Kevin of trying to fit in with society. This scene represents the fear homosexuals have opening up in front of others about their sexuality in those times. The final chapter of Moonlight shows the audience a fully grown Chiron that shares a striking resemblance with Juan, his only father figure in the movie. Chiron also follows in Juan's footsteps of becoming a drug dealer and becoming extremely respected, this new lifestyle could be a way for Chiron to try and hide his sexuality from himself and others. But Chiron receives a call from Kevin once again that reignites his feelings for him, opening up feelings Chiron had been bottling up for years, showing that Chiron truly does still care for Kevin. After a final reunion between Chiron and Kevin, the movie ends with a child Chiron looking at the ocean, this final scene again looks at the recurring imagery of the ocean which I do not entirely understand the importance of.
The movie's cinematography has one common thing throughout the movie is that there is constantly camera movement. This movement helps the scenes within the movies remain intense even with the lack of music within many of the scenes in the movie.
Overall I believe that the movie had an excellent message to portray, and it did so brilliantly, but I don't believe that it was necessarily Oscar-worthy as I believe the movie got quite boring at many stages in the movie
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