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It’s not easy to pin down what makes “Moonlight” great. In fact, it’s not easy to pin down what the film is about. Sure, the story follows a young African-American boy growing up in Miami. It’s about growing up poor, black and gay. It’s about identity, belonging and masculinity. Family, relationships, and love. Violence, drugs and abuse. However “Moonlight” is a film that is as much about personal experience as it is universal themes.
We first meet the film’s central character as a young boy (Alex R. Hibbert), nicknamed Little by the boys at his school. We follow him into a derelict apartment building, hiding from the bullies who want to beat him up, where he’s found by a man called Juan (Mahershala Ali). When Little refuses to tell Juan who he is or where he lives, Juan takes him back to his house where he meets Juan’s partner Teresa (Janelle Monáe). Little stays with Juan and Teresa overnight, and is briefly introduced to a stable, family-like environment. The next day, Little finally allows Juan to take him home to his mother (Naomie Harris) who, as a drug-addicted single mother, provides Little with a far less stable, loving life.
Jump forward a few years and the young boy is now a teenager, known by his real name Chiron (Ashton Sanders). He’s still dealing with bullies and is silently questioning his sexuality. Chiron is alone – he seems to have next-to-no friends and his mother is more or less absent in his life. That is with the exception of Teresa, who has become a mother figure to Chiron, and fellow student Kevin (Jharrel Jerome), who shows Chiron kindness and understanding.
Finally, we meet Chiron as a young man, now known by the name Black (Trevante Rhodes). He’s no longer the skinny kid we first met but a well-built “tough guy”. One day out of the blue, Black is contacted by Kevin (now played by André Holland). They haven’t seen each other in years, and their reunion serves as the film’s touching finale.
Barry Jenkins has created a movie that is intimate yet grand. It feels so extraordinarily personal yet speaks to the greater social situation. It’s about one man’s experiences, but is equally about universal themes such as sexuality, identity, violence, relationships and masculinity. Bolstered by great performances and deliberate direction, “Moonlight” utilises personal experience to deliver something much more universal, and it does so with a conscious gentleness that transforms a good film into a great work of art.
