Moonlight

Personally, I am ecstatic about the success of "Moonlight". With the Academy Awards less than a week away, I still cannot believe that "Moonlight" has 8 nominations. I saw this film upon its initial release in the fall, and am kicking myself for not writing a review immediately after seeing it. That being said, it is a true testament to the wonder of this film that I am still so touched by the story that unfolded before my eyes so many months ago.

"Moonlight," directed by Barry Jenkins, tells the heartbreaking story of a young African American man's search for himself over three parts. Over the course of two hours, the audience sees main character Chiron experience agony, joy, pain sorrow, love, and nearly everything in between. Chiron is a black, gay man that continuously struggled with his sense of identity. This movie emphasizes the human struggle of finding one's identity. The true gift this film delivers to the audience is a deeply focused story on one boy's life, that ultimately delved into broader themes of human identity. Some of the other themes addressed in this film are masculinity, sexuality, and family. The amount of detail that went into this film continuously astounds me. This was a small budget film, costing around $5 million (as a point of comparison, Spider-Man 2 cost $200 million). Every single shot, every single line of dialogue, every single note in the soundtrack played a vital role to the film's overall success.

As previously mentioned, the film is divided into three parts, "Little," "Chiron," and "Black". These names serve as labels Chiron identified with throughout his life. In the first stage of the film, the audience meets a young Chiron hiding in a strange apartment from kids looking to beat him up. He was found by drug dealer Juan, played by Mahershala Ali. This moment marked the start of a relationship between the two, where Juan served as a father figure to young Chiron. The plot of the film gets more intertwined when we learn that Chiron's mother is a drug addict- in fact, her dealer is Juan. While this aspect of the film became more messy later on, Chiron's relationship with Juan became an integral part of his development as a child. Next, the film focused on Chiron as a teenager. It is even more evident at this point in the film that Chiron cannot seek any sort of emotional support from his family. Chiron then formed a relationship with a new friend, Kevin. His sexual confusion is heightened in the relationship between these characters- a confusion that will burden Chiron for a long time to come. This relationship will reappear with a larger significance in the third section of the film. Towards the end, the film focused in on the shift in Chiron and Kevin's relationship. As Chiron grew up, he grasped on to the aspects of masculinity that surrounded him in his world. This cloak of masculinity came as a surprise to Kevin when he began to know Chiron again. Through Kevin's reaction, it became apparent to Chiron that this front further complicated his self-identification. It is through Kevin's relationships with others that we are able to witness the complexities of self-identification. Chiron is in the midst of self-discovery throughout the entirety of the film, presenting the potential idea to the audience that people are forever changing and continuously working towards finding their true selves. While this colossal idea is presented to the audience, the message is in no way preachy. This is magically executed, as the entire story is focused around the way Chiron shifts his behaviors in efforts of finding himself, and allows room for the audience to find the message on their own.

The acting in this movie is a major part of what makes "Moonlight" a success. It was a risky move to break the film into three stages of one character's life. When casting three actors as the lead, filmmakers have to feel confident that three different people can portray the same character. These actors are not only believable as the same character, but while doing so they demonstrated the growth of a character. The acting in "Moonlight" was remarkable across the board. The portrayal of Juan by Mahershala Ali has my vote for Best Supporting Actor. Naomie Harris, who played Chiron's mother, also delivered a powerful performance. It comes as no surprise to me that Ali and Harris are contenders for Best Supporting Actor/Actress.

In addition to the acting, I was also blown away by the cinematography. In an interview I read, the cinematographer, James Laxton, wanted to make the film look "dreamlike" as opposed to looking like a documentary. He believes that it is common for many social issue indie movies to try to take that approach, and wanted to break off from that. His lighting designs brought out multiple dimensions of color from the actors' faces. The bold colors in this film are not only evident in the actor's faces, but in the bright Miami scenery as well. Vibrant palm trees in the background add a new dimension to the dreamlike image Laxton sought. I don't personally know much about lighting and methods used in cinematography, but I do know that the cinematography left a strong impression on me.

Another strong component contributing to the wonder of "Moonlight" was the soundtrack. I tend to neglect soundtracks in my movie reviews, but I think "Moonlight"'s soundtrack really added a new dimension to the film. Listening to the soundtrack, an audience can hear Chiron's sensitivity and tenderness. It may come to a surprise to some that "Moonlight"'s soundtrack consists of classical music. People tend to associate black youth with rap and hip hop, therefore it was a very deliberate decision to incorporate classical piano into the film. It plays into Chiron's confusion about masculinity.

As a whole, I feel as if people gravitate towards "easy" movies. The "feel-good" movies. I've heard from several people who've only seen "La La Land" out of all the nominations for best picture this year- "Oh who wants to see a sad movie? La La Land has music, that sounds fun!" People like to forget about the realities of the struggles people face in their lives. People go to the movies for an escape, and a lot of the time they only want to escape to a happy place. I believe, however, that there is so much more beauty in struggle.