Moonlight Film Review

    Moonlight was easily one of the best movies I think I have ever seen. I went into this movie not really knowing what to expect but I was very pleasantly surprised. The movie starts out with a young boy who goes by "Little" and has a very rough home life. His mom sort of neglects him and is a drug addict, so a man by the name of Juan takes care of him. The two form a special bond, and Juan teaches Little how to swim. One day, Juan sells some drugs to Little's mom and the two get in an argument over him. At the dinner table one night, Little asks Juan what the F slur means, and ends up asking Juan if he is a drug dealer. When he learns that Juan is, Little walks out and never sees Juan again. It's at this point in the movie that it changes to Chiron, older Little. It shows him in school getting bullied, and a more in depth look into his home life. There is a scene in this section where Chiron and his best friend at the time share an intimate scene on the beach. They end up kissing and messing around a little and it was a very important scene in the movie. It then switches for the last time to "Black", an even older Chiron. It shows him now being super jacked, and not at all like his younger self. He is still quiet and reserved, but has a very different aura about him. He has started selling drugs. One day he gets a call from Kevin, his former best friend, asking about him and telling him that he should come visit him at his restaurant. Black decides to go and see him to catch up. The two pick up mostly where they left off, and Kevin makes him a meal for free. They end up going back to Kevin's place, which is when they Black shares with him that he is the only man that has ever touched him before. It was a deep and sad scene because you could feel Black's pain. There was also a scene when he is older where him and his mom have a heart to heart. His mom tells him that it is okay if he doesn't love her because she didn't love him when he needed is most. It was a really moving scene because you could feel the emotions from both of the characters in those moments.

    I really enjoyed the 3 part structure to this movie. I have not seen many movies when it is set up like this so I thought it was cool and something new. It really allowed for us as the views to focus on the growth of the main character. It was easy to see the different stages in his life with important things that happened to him, and how they shaped who he ended up to be. In each part, there were hints about him being gay, and in the final part, it was fully displayed who he was, and it was clear he was struggling. In the first part, Little is a small kid who is very quiet and doesn't say much. When he asks what the F slur meant, he also asked is he was one. Juan replied no he wasn't, but it was okay if he was gay. Then during the beach scene in the Chiron part, we get our first display of him being gay with Kevin. In the Black part, when he comes clean to Kevin, it shows us how he is sort of uncomfortable with who he is and it is sad. You can see how he grew, but also see how he really didn't. He changed physically, but mentally he was still the same little kid who was bullied and not treated how he should have been. 

    I want to talk about the specific scene of Black and his mom talking while they are in the drug rehab facility. His mom now understands how much he hurt Black and gives him the opportunity to speak on it. He gets up at one point and almost leaves which is then when his mom apologized for her actions. You could tell that what she did really hurt her, as well has her son. She was telling him that it's okay if he doesn't love her, and she regrets all her decisions. He replies under his breath "I hate you mom." I usually don't cry in movies, but I was definitely close during this scene. It was just so powerful because it tied in the other parts of the movie and gave some closure to both characters. 

    Overall, I think this movie is a much watch. It definitely deserved the awards that it got and I really thought it was very well done. There are not many movies out there about gay black people so I think that it is important for everyone to see.