Moonlight Review
This is a film about an African-American man who is homosexual, living in a hood environment where that kind of lifestyle is not accepted. The film takes three chapters to lead us through his journey of life.
The way Chiron's character is first portrayed really heightens the empathy we feel as an audience for him- his continued silence while accepting help from strangers immediately shows deprived he is of affection by his mother. He wears a face of defeat and his body language is slouched and not confident. This shows his emotion without the character having to speak: this is applicable to real life situations which is why this element had such an impact.
As the chapters progress we are shocked with the change in levels of emotion, from the crippling violence to the first confirmation of his sexuality, and to his mother desperately seizing his money for drugs. While all these scenes are intensely graphic, we are stunned by the way Chiron has to deal with his hardship on a day to day basis.
In the opening chapter, the father figure shows little significance through his later years until the very last scene.When Chiron begins to reflect himself in Juan, he finally accepts his sexuality. Looking further into it, they are both in the same situation- selling drugs, feeling respected, not to mention they are what looks like the same age. We can see that his brief father figures values are finally put into action in the very last scene.
In terms of cinematography, there is a lot of handheld used to follow or rotate around the characters. In the opening scene, this is done to establish the scene and setting of the movie, instead of a typical long shot. This might have been done to add a documentary, real life situation vibe to it.
The way Chiron's character is first portrayed really heightens the empathy we feel as an audience for him- his continued silence while accepting help from strangers immediately shows deprived he is of affection by his mother. He wears a face of defeat and his body language is slouched and not confident. This shows his emotion without the character having to speak: this is applicable to real life situations which is why this element had such an impact.As the chapters progress we are shocked with the change in levels of emotion, from the crippling violence to the first confirmation of his sexuality, and to his mother desperately seizing his money for drugs. While all these scenes are intensely graphic, we are stunned by the way Chiron has to deal with his hardship on a day to day basis.
In the opening chapter, the father figure shows little significance through his later years until the very last scene.When Chiron begins to reflect himself in Juan, he finally accepts his sexuality. Looking further into it, they are both in the same situation- selling drugs, feeling respected, not to mention they are what looks like the same age. We can see that his brief father figures values are finally put into action in the very last scene.
In terms of cinematography, there is a lot of handheld used to follow or rotate around the characters. In the opening scene, this is done to establish the scene and setting of the movie, instead of a typical long shot. This might have been done to add a documentary, real life situation vibe to it.
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