Moonlight
17/03/17 Filed in: Cinema
After taking the Best Film award at the Oscars this year Moonlight returned to our local cinema, giving me a chance to see it. I had read reviews and had an idea what the film was about, but in the event it was to some extent a bit of a surprise. One of the first impressions was the camera work, an early sequence appearing to have been filmed with a hand-held camera creating an almost vertiginous feeling as the viewpoint encircled the subjects in a far from stable fashion. The other thing that becomes apparent as the film runs is that the cast is entirely black.
The film is presented in three acts, representing three stages in the life of Chiron, a gay black boy who struggles with his identity while growing up in Miami. The first act is entitled 'Little', referring to Chiron's nickname while he was a child.
Juan is a Cuban drug dealer, complete with a flashy car, nice house, attractive girlfriend and kids out on the street doing the business. But he is at heart a good man. Chiron is bullied relentlessly and after being chased by other boys he locks himself in an abandoned building that is being used as a 'crackhouse'. Juan finds him and tries to talk to him, but Chiron remains mute. After a further unsuccessful attempt to communicate with Chiron at a diner, Juan takes him home, where his girlfriend Teresa gradually gains the young boy's confidence. As Chiron eats another good meal, Juan remarks that although he doesn't talk much he sure can eat.
On returning Chiron home, Juan gets a frosty reception from Paula, Chiron's mother. A little later while Juan is on the street with his 'sellers', he spots a parked car and when he investigates he finds Paula and a man inside. He is clearly upset but finds himself in the position of being instrumental in Paula's habit while at the same time critical of it, and the impact on Chiron's life. From then on there is hostility between Juan and Paula. Juan teaches Chiron to swim and begins to form a closer bond with him, but this all ends when Chiron asks if Juan sells drugs. Juan lowers his head in shame as he admits to this, whereupon Chiron walks out of the house.
In the second 'act' we see Chiron as a teenager. He is still spending time with Teresa and is still being bullied, avoiding in particular a classmate by the name of Terrel. Chiron does have one friend, Kevin, and they meet one evening after Chiron has travelled to the beach. Here Chiron for the first time responds to his homosexuality with Kevin. This is clearly an important milestone for Chiron, but the moment is soon devalued when soon after Terrel forces Kevin to punch Chiron a number of times, after which Terrel and others attack Chiron while he's on the ground. After refusing to identify the attackers to the school, Chiron takes matters into his own hands and this ends with his arrest.
The third act shows things almost turning full circle, as Chiron, now a muscular athletic looking man, is seen to be a drug dealer in Atlanta, an almost carbon copy of Juan. The same flashy car, gold teeth overlays, gold jewellery; you get the picture. He now goes by the name of Black, a nickname that Kevin used to use even though Chiron didn't much like it at the time. There is an emotional reunion with his mother, who's now in drug rehabilitation, where both apologise for their past actions. He receives a surprise call from Kevin, who's working as a chef in a diner in Miami, and after a while decides to pay him a visit. Kevin cooks him the chef's special but Chiron, despite his changed physical appearance, still doesn't say a lot. After a few too many wines they return to Kevin's where Chiron makes a startling revelation, something that effectively condenses his troubled life into a single statement. This is where we find out that Kevin is indeed Chiron's true friend.
This film is different in many ways. There isn't a definable beginning or for that matter a discernible ending, nor a plot in the usual sense of the word. It's a window on a life that is almost destroyed through insecurity within an environment that will be alien to most of us, and is as unsympathetic as any environment could be. It's a story of a man trying to find his identity and who, at the end, might well have done so.
In the second 'act' we see Chiron as a teenager. He is still spending time with Teresa and is still being bullied, avoiding in particular a classmate by the name of Terrel. Chiron does have one friend, Kevin, and they meet one evening after Chiron has travelled to the beach. Here Chiron for the first time responds to his homosexuality with Kevin. This is clearly an important milestone for Chiron, but the moment is soon devalued when soon after Terrel forces Kevin to punch Chiron a number of times, after which Terrel and others attack Chiron while he's on the ground. After refusing to identify the attackers to the school, Chiron takes matters into his own hands and this ends with his arrest.
The third act shows things almost turning full circle, as Chiron, now a muscular athletic looking man, is seen to be a drug dealer in Atlanta, an almost carbon copy of Juan. The same flashy car, gold teeth overlays, gold jewellery; you get the picture. He now goes by the name of Black, a nickname that Kevin used to use even though Chiron didn't much like it at the time. There is an emotional reunion with his mother, who's now in drug rehabilitation, where both apologise for their past actions. He receives a surprise call from Kevin, who's working as a chef in a diner in Miami, and after a while decides to pay him a visit. Kevin cooks him the chef's special but Chiron, despite his changed physical appearance, still doesn't say a lot. After a few too many wines they return to Kevin's where Chiron makes a startling revelation, something that effectively condenses his troubled life into a single statement. This is where we find out that Kevin is indeed Chiron's true friend.
This film is different in many ways. There isn't a definable beginning or for that matter a discernible ending, nor a plot in the usual sense of the word. It's a window on a life that is almost destroyed through insecurity within an environment that will be alien to most of us, and is as unsympathetic as any environment could be. It's a story of a man trying to find his identity and who, at the end, might well have done so.