“In the moonlight, black boys look blue.”
Moonlight, directed by Barry Jenkins, is perhaps the most beautiful film I’ve seen all season. While I have doubts about it’s ability to beat La La Land, mostly because the Academy likes pretentious films, it’s the film most worthy of the title of Best Picture in 2017.
I think I’m ahead of myself. Let me back up. Spoiler alert ahead.
Moonlight is the story of Chiron, a young African-American kid growing up somewhere in Miami, 
trying to figure out who he is and how to be in a harsh landscape that either toughens you up or spits you out. It’s based on a play, In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, by Tarell Alvin McCraney, who also worked on the screen adaptation of the film. Starring Trevante Rhodes (adult Chiron), Andre Holland (Kevin), Janelle Monae (Teresa), Ashton Sanders (teenage Chiron), Naomie Harris (Paula- Chiron’s mother), and Mahershala Ali (Juan), Moonlight has been nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Naomie Harris is up for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Moonlight, and it has already won Best Motion Picture- Drama at the Golden Globes.
We watch Chiron move throughout the three stages of his life, his childhood – during which he was referred to as “Little”, his teenage years when he went by Chiron, and his young adult years when he goes by the moniker “Black”, a nickname Kevin gave him when they were younger. During the “Little” years, Chiron is a scrawny kid who is bullied daily, and avoiding his home where his mother is spending her time doing drugs, mainly crack. He meets Juan, played by Mahershala Ali, who is a dealer on the streets, and his girl Teresa (Janelle Monae). He looks up to Juan, and Juan teaches him important things, like where to sit at the table so no one can sneak up behind you, and how to swim in the ocean. Teresa feeds him and loves him, and it is clear Little feels more at home with Juan and Teresa than he does with his own mother, Paula. It is during this time Chiron begins to suspect he might be gay, and one evening he asks Juan to explain what a “faggot” is, and how he would know if he was one.
During the “Chiron” years, Chiron is scrawnier and more bullied than ever, though he remains close with his childhood friend Kevin. Kevin has managed to be cool, although he enjoys Chiron. It is during these years Kevin nicknames Chiron “Black”. One night at the beach, Kevin and Chiron have an intimate moment, in which Chiron finally opens up about his feelings and sexual identity. They kiss, and Kevin gives Chiron a hand job. Unfortunately, in order to remain in the cool kids club, the next day Kevin is pressured into beating up Chiron until he falls to the ground, at which point the other kids surround him and stomp him out. Chiron finally gets angry at this, and the following day he comes in and attacks the main bully Terrel with a chair. Chiron is taken out in handcuffs. When we meet Chiron again he is “Black”, and now he’s running the streets. We see him visit his mother who is finally in rehab for her crack addiction, and get a phone call from Kevin, with whom he hasn’t spoken since that fateful day in high school. Intrigued and shaken, Black goes to see Kevin at the restaurant where he cooks. Kevin makes a meal for Black, and they reconnect. Eventually, they return to Kevin’s home together, where Black admits that Kevin is the only man who has ever touched him. The film closes on an image of Kevin holding Black, and then we see “Little” standing at the beach, surrounded by moonlight.
This film is nothing short of spectacular, in my humble opinion. It is an honest look at a life lived on the “other side of town”. Mahershala Ali does a perfect job of playing Juan, and is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his efforts. Sure, he sells drugs, and employs others to do so, but he is not needlessly cruel. He commits no heinous murders, does not shoot at anyone, we don’t hear anything about “f**k the police” or the NWA. He is kind, and takes an interest in a young boy who needs to be taken care of. He handles Chiron’s questions about his sexual identity kindly and gently, teaching Chiron that regardless of his identification, no one has any right to say cruel things to him or walk all over him. He is the perfect representation of your local, neighborhood dealer. He gives money to children who need it, he feeds them, he cares about them, and he happens to sell drugs. This is truly the reason why children in these situations in these neighborhoods make similar choices. Unlike what we may see in tv shows or other films, drug dealers aren’t terrifying nor terrorizing the block, at least not to the people who live on it and benefit from his presence, protection, and influence.
We’ve seen Janelle Monae already before, though she wore a different hairstyle in Hidden Figures, she remains the gentle and kind soul she was there. Naomie Harris truly shines, however, in her portrayal of Paula, Chiron’s mother. This woman starts out loving and concerned about her son, however is transformed by the drug she consumes. She is both terrifying and beautiful. We can see her care for her son in the way she holds him after he’s been away all night, and yet we watch her yell and scream at him in her fury at spending more time with Teresa than her. We can see the reason Chiron both loves and hates her. It is a complex and deep performance which simultaneously demonizes and humanizes the addict.
And of course there is Chiron himself. Played by Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes, each brings something wondrous to his character. Hibbert is sweet and earnest, finding his way though he does not fit in, bonding with an older male figure who cares for him and teaches him about the world. Sanders certainly deserves a nod for the complex, hurt young man who radiates awkwardness. It’s easy to see why he gets picked on at school, and yet there is a deep rage inside that he finally taps into the day he attacks his would-be attackers. We watch the world he lives in finally harden him into the man he’s avoided becoming for so long. Finally, Trevante Rhodes is the picture perfect “street thug” (please heed the quotes), as stereotypical as he can be, until of course we look in his eyes. His eyes hold a thousand words which have been left unsaid. He has clearly been paying attention to the foundation Hibbert and Sanders have left for him, and when he finds himself in the presence of Kevin, the man who held his fascination for an entire lifetime, we see young Sanders and especially Hibbert shine through. This confident man becomes quiet, stares at Kevin the way he always has, with hope, longing, and frustration written across his face. Rhodes is brilliant at bringing all of Chiron’s life experiences into his brief time on-screen. A character of few words, Rhodes is the fruition of years of torment, identity confusion, a drug addicted mother, a kind mentor, enormous pain, and the streets of Miami. This complex and beautifully rendered performance is truly special.
In short, Moonlight is a play that needs to be revived, and a movie which deserves to be watched with a critical gaze. Particularly for anyone looking to understand the typically oversimplified life in the projects, go no further. This is not Boyz n the Hood, this is not shoot outs and rapping, it’s simply life, being poor, and unable to afford to get out. Notice the boys playing soccer with a makeshift ball of discarded things. Notice the dealer who isn’t the neighborhood devil or criminal. Notice the kids who don’t have anyone to look after them, which parents who work long hours or are addicted to drugs. They come home and heat water on the stove in order to bathe themselves. They are latch-key kids. They posture and pretend, because the only one who survives is the one who can take care of themselves. They learn the hard way that the world doesn’t know they’re there, nor does it care particularly, unless one of them can drop a sick beat, get a ball into a hoop. They do what they can with what they have, and they end up in the system, or they end up doing or selling drugs, maybe both, or they end up dead. The somewhat fortunate end up as line cooks at restaurants, one in four thousand will make it to Harvard, and one in millions will become the next Jay-Z.