Moonlight
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.
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- Cast:
- Trevante Rhodes , André Holland , Janelle Monáe , Ashton Sanders , Jharrel Jerome , Alex R. Hibbert , Jaden Piner
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Reviews
Undescribable Perfection
Too much of everything
Such a frustrating disappointment
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
Left asking why we wasting 2 hours on this. Acting by the supporting actors were good. Jenelle Monae was great. However, the story just went on and on with no real point or plot. Just a lot of silence and frustration.
Simply amazing film. Every performance is captivating and
"Moonlight" is thought provoking and sincere. It tells deep truths and holds interest throughout. However, it feels empty during some moments when it should really be the most powerful.-Analysis of Notable Work- *Writing/Story/Directing: "Moonlight" starts out strong with the childhood of Little. He starts to learn he is different from others. We see the pain this causes him. We also experience the brokenness of his family; his mom is hardly a mother to him. But some kindhearted people take him and shape his life. He is drawn to them, and this is beautiful. Overtime, Little grows up and prefers to be called by his name, Chiron. His life changes and he figures out who he is a bit more. We really start to connect with Chiron during this part of his life. Then, as we jump into his adulthood, he becomes distant from the story. The film begins to lose its momentum, and we don't get a strong piece of storytelling until the very end. Kevin turns out to be a more developed character in the last third of the movie than Chiron/Black is. Barry Jenkins shows promise as a director. He commands powerful moments and gets the most out of his cast, but I think he has a lot more potential than what the final product ended up being. *Cinematography/Editing: The visual storytelling is a strong suit of this film. James Laxton composes beautiful and powerful images that tap into the emotion of each scene. His use of color is powerful and memorable. There is a constant tone of melancholy and disconnection through the camera angles and movement. In many scenes, we are pushed very close to characters when we see Chiron's point of view, and it leaves us with a feeling of being closed in on and trapped. The depth of field also gives us hints of Chiron's feeling of being disconnected with others. The performances of the actors are placed higher in importance than having fancy camerawork, and that is a strength of this film. The editing adds so much beauty to this film. There are no quick cuts. We take our time focusing on characters and the things going through their minds. The pacing makes this film seem so much more natural and grounded in emotion. Less is more sometimes, and when it comes to editing in this film, they understood that and used it to their advantage. *Dialogue/Acting: Once again, less is more. There were no grand revelations through long monologues or verbiage. The conversations felt sincere and honest. There was power in the smallest of lines because it was coupled with strong performances from the actors. There were not many weak performances throughout the whole film. One of the weakest performances was by Trevante Rhodes. I am not sure whether it was a directorial decision or if Rhodes has a lack of range, but he stayed in the same mood for each scene he was in. Most of the other performances were authentic and powerful. *Music/Sound: The score was subdued but still carried a lot of weight. It was melancholic and beautiful; perfectly reflecting the tone set by the other aspects of the film. The sound design did its job. The most noticeable parts were when sound cut out, revealing to us that Chiron was pushing some of his experiences to the background. *Production Design/Special Effects: The costume and set pieces were beautiful and played a central role in setting up the feeling of the film. There are not many uses of special effects, but the film did not need them. The only instance that required it was the beating of Chiron, and it held up as being relatively realistic. *Conclusion: "Moonlight" is a beautiful film that follows the life of a young black man who struggles to find who he is and what he will become. It is heartbreaking, hopeful, and down to earth.
I have read a few of the very negative reviews. And I think I can understand, that everyone has a very different 'take' on the journey that is their life. So i'm only going to say that this movie moved 'me'. It is a story that I relate to in terms of the isolation that sometime happens to a life through being Gay (or perhaps many other reasons) it seems to me this movie told a simple story very well. We all search for an acceptable version (of ourselves) and we all search for connections with others so that we can recognize that we are human. I have no cultural connection to the setting (african American, drug use etc) of this story, but I found a true connection to the humanity of it.