Moonlight

"At some point you've got to decide for yourself who you gonna be. And let nobody make that decision."

Filmology Rating: 3.5 out of 4

Moonlight is a coming of age story about Chiron. He is growing up in the middle of a dysfunctional home where his mother is a drug addict, a life without a father, getting constantly bullied at school, and more. This is the story of his struggle to find himself as he deals with life, the highs and lows and everything that comes with it, and also grappling with his own sexuality and identity.

Moonlight is an absolute masterpiece. Quality wise, Moonlight is a flawless film. It was incredible acting from everyone involved, its direction was executed flawlessly, its cinematography was exhilarating to watch, and its emotional appeal is undeniable. The most amazing aspect of this film is how real this movie feels. Nothing feels forced and it almost feels like you’ve intruded in on these characters lives and you are watching these events unfold first hand.

Moonlights real life feel was presented in a very unique fashion in the way that this film was broken down into three acts. Each one of these acts offered something new and revealed something new about the main character. The first act is called “Little”. This act focuses on his elementary school life where he gets bullied and feels like an outsider. He doesn’t feel normal and that it only heightened by the harassment from other students and a drug addict mother at home. The second act is called “Chiron”. During this act, we focus on his high school life in which life is still very difficult except now he is struggling with his sexual identity along with trying to figure out who “Chiron” is. At the end of this act, we have two defining events that change his life for good. These events lead into the third act which is called “Black”. Chiron, who goes by “Black”, is now an adult. Black is seemingly very different from Chiron. I don't want to give much of the third act away but just know that it is amazing in who it brings the story full circle.

As mentioned earlier, I loved this real feel style to the film. It offers such an authentic and genuine feeling that it captivates its audience. I am not someone who really connected to anything that this character experienced and yet, I was drawn in and connected with this character on a level that was surprising. Each one of these acts, I was sucked in, wanting to know what would happen next in the life of Chiron. I was so sucked in to this character because each of the three actors who played Chiron was fantastic and the surprising thing was that this was essentially all of their first time in a major motion pictured; could’ve fooled me because each one of them gave award winning performances.

Now I do have to say that this movie will not be for everyone. This is a slow building drama that focuses more on the human emotion than anything else. This is not a comedy, this is not an action film, and this is not necessarily an exciting movie. Moonlight is a flawless and beautifully made film that captures human emotion at its most simple form. I will have to be honest, when I walked out of the theater, I thought wow this movie was fantastic but I don't think it would be one that I will want to see again. I was wrong. I am already wanting to see this film again and witness the beauty of each shot, the authentic real life feel once more, and the true emotions that this film brings out. Check out a trailer of this film and if it seems to interest you, please go see this film because it is truly one of the best films this year.

Rating: See It 

-Nick