Moonlight begins with the camera following Juan (Mahershala Ali) out of his car. It constantly pans around to survey the neighborhood, while rotating around Juan and his friend before eventually settling into a static frame. The scene efficiently gives us a sense of place and makes its world feel lived-in; moreover, the camera movement evokes the feelings of one both anxiously surveying for danger and frantically trying to find his/her place in the world. Even though the main character isn't in the scene, the camera moves as if it were from his point of view. We don't know it yet, but the camera has already put us into his frame of mind and hinted at how his story is going to unfold.
Moonlight tells the story of Chiron coming of age in 3 chapters: diminutive youth, gangly teen, and muscle-bound adult. When we first meet Chiron he is running away from several bullies in a sequence that immediately paints him in vivid colors. The way he adroitly crawls under the fence suggests he's had to do it before (or a least developed some resourcefulness out of necessity). The way he knocks on multiple doors looking for any place to hide shows his desperation and isolation - he can't even go home because he's so worried about just getting away. We don't know why the other boys torment him, but when he cries on the floor it's clear that he's close to the breaking point. The climactic confrontation doesn't come until much later, but this scene immediately sets up a compelling conflict.
As the film goes by Chiron deals with further obstacles, including his small stature, his social awkwardness, his absentee father, his mother's descent into drug addiction, coming to terms with his sexuality (and the bullying that results from it). Chiron is played by three different actors (Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes), but they all manage to find commonalities in their performances, such as his nervous gait and his instinct to look down when uncomfortable - no matter how many years pass, Chiron is never totally secure in his own skin. Similar to Richard Linklater in Boyhood, director Barry Jenkins does a great job of getting the narrative and performances to cohere.
The film does an incredible job of putting the viewer squarely into Chiron's point of view. Director Barry Jenkins often eschews the rule of thirds to put either Chiron or the object of Chiron's vision in dead center of the frame. These intimate shots force you into Chiron's frame of mind. Often when Chiron is walking Jenkins shoots from Chiron's back and lets the size of the frame be limited by Chiron's own peripheral vision; you can't help but share Chiron's fear of what danger lurks just out of sight. Jenkins is also great at composing shots so that Chiron is on the outside looking in at a group, or looking through fences or barriers. The result is a vivid portrait of the individual that simultaneously feels universal in its emotional affect.
The supporting performances elevate an already great movie even higher. Kevin (Jaden Piner, Jharrel Jerome, Andre Holland) makes for the perfect yang to Chiron's yin. He exudes confidence in the daylight but matches Chiron's vulnerability in the moonlight when the two reciprocate intimacy. Kevin's scenes with Chiron are a beautiful show of male bonding, and their schoolyard fight a haunting example of the toxic expectations young men often have placed on them, both externally and by each other. Chiron's mother could have been just a plot device but Naomi Harris finds a compelling character within the script. Her genuine love for Chiron is clear in her first scene, which makes her drug addiction all the more heartbreaking. But the best supporting work comes from Juan and Teresa (Janelle Monae). After Juan discovers Chiron in the abandoned house, he takes an interest in Chiron; from here, acts 1 and 2 are about Chiron seeking out a father and mother figure, respectively. Ali and Monae are great at showing just how much of a void Chiron also fills in their lives, and Ali is especially great at showing how Chiron's presence forces him to re-evaluate his place in the world. All of the supporting characters certainly propel Chiron's narrative forward. However it's a testament to the well-rounded screenplay that each of these characters are 3-dimensional enough to star in their own stories.
Moonlight is a breathtaking tale of love, loss, isolation, and acceptance. It's an important movie without trying to be important - there are no big speeches or emotionally manipulative scenes. It's simply a matter of fact look at a world rarely depicted in cinema. I simply can't recommend this film highly enough.
Grade: 9.3/10
