This is not a film, it's a beautiful poem.
Directed by Barry Jenkins and adapted from the highly-rated play “In moonlight black boys look blue”, Moonlight, set in the impoverished Liberty City area of Miami focuses on the life of a sensitive young black man, Chiron, and his struggles with masculinity and discovery of self.
In the first act, successful drug dealer Juan (Mahershala Ali) encounters young Chiron fleeing from bullies chasing after him. The child (Alex Hibbert) refuses to speak but allows Juan to buy him a meal. Juan and his girlfriend, Teresa (Janelle Monáe), take him into their home, where he opens up and reveals that he is called Little, but he refuses to say where he lives until the following morning. Juan returns him to his mother (Naomie Harris), who is a drug addict and also emotionally abusive towards her child. Juan and Teresa become an alternate family for Chiron, who does not know how to fit in with the other boys in the neighborhood, though a friend, Kevin (Jaden Piner), tries to teach him.
In the second act, Chiron (now played by Ashton Sanders) is a lanky teenager in highschool. Still being bullied, but a tad less shy since the last we saw of him. His mother has sunk deeper into addiction, and he continues to rely on Teresa for solace. His mentor, Juan has unfortunately passed away. One night on the beach, Chiron has a sexual encounter with Kevin, his childhood friend. Though this elated experience is short-lived as the very next day, a local bully forces Kevin to beat up Chiron, which he does, resentfully. After the altercation in which Chiron smashes the chair over the bully’s head, he is arrested and taken away by the police.
In the third act, ten years have passed, and Chiron (Trevante Rhodes) is a hulking drug dealer in Atlanta, going by the name ‘Black’. His mother wants him to visit her in the drug rehab facility, and Kevin (André Howard), now a short-order cook in Miami, reaches out to him through a phone call. Chiron goes on a path of reconciliation and healing by mending bridges with both of them. The film ends with Kevin and Chiron sharing a warm embrace, just like they did years ago.
Structure
The three distinct chapters highlight the fragility, mutability, and complexity of one’s personality over a period of time. By casting three different actors to portray the same role at different stages of the character's life, the film embraces the fact that our personalities are fluid and not static. As time passes, people tend to change, evolve, and grow. While these changes can render a person unrecognizable to others, the core remains intact.
There is the lost young ‘Little’ who’s name is an insult thrust on him and a tag he must reject. The teenager ‘Chiron’ who is dealing with his sexual orientation and his mother’s worsening addiction. And the adult ‘Black’ who has shielded himself from the external stressors by adopting a gangster facade.
This storytelling choice explores the relationship between the external persona and the internal self. Chiron’s personality is deeply affected by his interactions with his community, by how they see him and label him, and by how he responds to that communal perception. As said by the screenwriter, Tarell Alvin McCraney, a key part of the story is that the community knows things about him before he becomes aware of it himself. They want to place him in a category before he knows what that even means. The scene early on in the film, where Little asks Juan, "Am I a faggot?" portrays the inner struggles and confusion he has about himself.
The story has a universal implication of finding yourself but also has a strong particular story about a young black man who is trapped under the weight of society’s expectations of masculinity. Meanwhile, he escapes this forced, inauthentic persona with the help of those who throw him a lifeline.
Camera and Sound
Moonlight has some of the best plot motivated camerawork and sound design I have seen in any film. It's not that it just looked and sounded great, every design choice by the director and the DP had a purpose. They are always working to express Chiron’s inner world by placing the camera right between the actors. The slick swirling camerawork from the first scene of the film, tells us that Mahershalla Ali’s character, Juan, a big man in town, is calm and cool with his status and respect in the community. The immediate next scene is Little running away from the pursuing bullies. The shot is frenetic and carries discomfort for the viewer. With the extremely shaky camera, the filmmakers have tried to portray the insecurities that this little boy is encountering at this stage of his life.
If we were to compare the first two scenes of the film, then Juan comes off as a character who has himself completely figured out and is not conflicting with himself, while the scene with Little is the complete opposite. And we get to know all this, just through the camerawork. In the same scene, we are placed in Little’s perspective by the overpowering sound of bullies throwing rocks and other objects at the window; we feel how trapped and scared this boy is.
In the dinner table scene with Juan, little, and Juan’s girlfriend Teresa, the camera, instead of intercutting between single shots of the couple, pans smoothly between the two. This displays the warmth and connection between them and the environment they have cultivated. The shot also gives us Little’s perspective and as he moves his gaze from one to the other, underlining the sense of security he has with them. The scene with Juan and little on the beach, the camera uses the same motion as Little keenly listens to Juan.
Throughout the film shots from behind thwart our ability to read Chiron’s character and we are unable to reach him; just as he is often trying and failing to reach inside himself.
The film’s use of circular shots captures being a part of the in-group. Earlier on in the film we see boys playing in the field to exuberant classical music, the smooth circular shot captures their feeling of release and enjoyment. We then break off to Little who doesn’t feel a part of that group, this is where we meet Kevin who will become Little’s life long friend.
The circular shot comes back later in Chiron’s teenage years, where the school bully Terell pressures Kev to hit Chiron. Here the shot is menacing, as the camera focuses on Terell. We get the feeling that the peer pressure of the in-crowd can be dangerous and terrifying.
The camera and sound also carry the feeling of disjointedness. When we see Chiron’s crack-addicted mother, Paula in the middle of a high, the close-up camera and the sound don’t seem to match up. The off feeling transitions us into Paula’s come down as she flips elation into panic and abuse.
When Chiron and Kev meet years later, again the sound doesn’t match the picture. For them the moment is surreal, and that is conveyed through this cinematic technique. (See the video below for reference)
Throughout the movie, classical music is used to identify Chiron’s inner self, contrasting from his external environment, yearning for peace, and self-discovery. In the swimming scene with Juan, the classical music is combined with a low immersive camera that makes it appear that the water is washing over us, including us in this unique experience of Chiron’s baptism and initiation of sorts.
Movies that focus on the depressed parts of society or people living in poverty and hardships tend to follow a common language. We think of severity, grim visuals, loud jarring sounds. But here, the director isn’t interested in the formula. He spins it on its head and finds a unique way of telling the story of a young black male in a poor neighborhood. There isn’t any hip hop music, no violent gangbanging, or traditional chaos. Instead, he fills the scenes with artistic music, comprising of violins and cellos. He brings arthouse music to the hood. The artistic flavor also adds a storytelling layer to the film. We don’t expect the artistic music in this movie, the same way Chiron's community fails to understand him.
Symbolism
When Kev and Chiron discuss their search for tranquility at the beach, they mention how the ocean breeze makes them feel. This breeze evokes the feeling of liberation from your daily life, of putting on a facade. We hear the breeze in the background of an early scene where Little starts to connect with Juan at the beach. We hear it again when Chiron is touched by another person, Kev.
In contrast, when Kev is pressured into hitting Chiron we have total silence. And from that point on the gentle Chiron of chapter 2 is replaced by the hard Black of chapter 3. Only when Kev and Chiron are reunited do we hear the sound of a breeze again.
The symbolism behind the film’s title however turns out to be the most subtle and yet, the most impactful. To be under the moonlight is to be your own true self. The most evident example of this would be the scene in Act One, which sees Juan teaching Little how to swim. The scene very strongly reflects a sort of Baptism and has the character in their most bare and truest selves. The ocean takes up 70% of the Earth but manages to remain a mystery for most of us. By immersing themselves into the unknown, the characters are stripping down their vulnerabilities. It is not just Juan teaching Little how to swim, it is Juan teaching him how to be comfortable with fear.
The words spoken by Juan, “In moonlight black boys look blue” also gives meaning to the extensive use of the color blue in the film’s pallet. In Act 2 the notion resurfaces in the most impactful way. At this point in the story, we are in Chiron’s teenage years. He is still confused, but not unaware of the fact that he can have feelings. We see the color pop up in his first interaction with teenage Kevin. Where Kevin is somebody who clearly has his identity figured out more than Chiron, comes out of a blue surrounding. Chiron leaves the conversation by walking into the blue zone, telling us that he is now more comfortable with his identity. Things start to ramp up when Kevin meets Chiron at the beach. It has been previously established that Chiron has a crush on him. We see him opening up to Kevin next to the ocean, a follow up to the swimming scene with Juan. The moon is shining above the two characters, and shortly afterward both of them share a kiss. In this scene, Chiron finds out not only who he is but also finds someone he can trust.
Fast forward to the next day at school. Kevin is sitting in the canteen with a blue shirt and white lines while Chiron walks in with a white shirt with blue lines. In this moment, both of them complete and complement each other perfectly. That is until the scene where Terrel forces Kevin to hit Chiron.
What follows is the shot of Chiron cleaning himself off at the sink. The shot of him staring directly into the camera displays that he now is looking forward and is not gonna be his past self. This scene mirrors the shot in Act 3 where we see Black washing his face and looking up in a much more confident manner. Washing his face gives him a sense of power and control, which sticks with him up until adulthood. Washing his face also is a callback to the swimming scene where he gained clarity and was liberated from his worries.
The following scene is just Chiron acting out, he wants to hurt Terrel and walks into the school building with purpose. He is shown wearing a very Vibrant blue shirt and the blue walls in the school pop up more than before. Chiron is, for the first time in his life, standing up for himself and hence is appearing to be blue. As he walks through the hallway, the depth of field is very low, keeping the focus on Chiron up until he reaches the classroom where everything clears, making his actions that much more emphatic.
While he is being taken away, Kevin’s wardrobe changes to a very dull white color. As if what he did to Chiron took away all the blue in his life. The loss of Chiron is also a loss of his own self.
In Act 3 when we meet Black, he is the confident slick character, unlike the Chiron we met earlier and more like his mentor, Juan. That is until Kevin calls. He is standing in blue light while on the call with Chiron as if the color has brought back his feelings for him. It is at this moment where Chiron’s vulnerabilities come rushing back to him and he loses his confident self. In the scene where both of them finally meet, there is a noticeable lack of personality in two and also the color blue is missing.
When they finally get back to Kevin’s house, their true colors finally begin to show. Kevin comes out in a blue T-shirt, and upon seeing that is when Black confesses his feelings for him. The breeze, the ocean, and the moonlight are all there to drive everything home. Black and Kevin have finally been reunited after so many years.
The final shot is the young Little standing in front of the ocean waves, bare-chested as he looks back into the camera, inviting us to embrace our own vulnerabilities and reveling in them to be our own true selves.
Conclusion
Unlike many other films with a three-act structure, Moonlight, much like its main character, is a highly complex film that can’t be put into any sort of label. It is also a story about acceptance and love. Even though Juan is a flawed or a misguided role model in many ways, he and Teresa manage to give Chiron what he needed the most, and that is being embraced for what he truly is.
For me, the story drives an extremely powerful message about discovering one’s identity and taking your own time as you go about it. You might take your entire life to find your footing or your purpose, and that is okay. What is important is to find people that will help you through the process and send you a rescue boat whenever you are in the need of it.
I will not pretend to comprehend all the subtle messaging and intricacies the movie is filled with. It was a unique experience that I have never had with any other film. Moonlight is complex, it's difficult, it’s painful but most of all, it is one of the most beautifully conceptualized stories I have ever seen.
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