Review of Moonlight (2016) by Dashtag M — 13 Mar 2017

I am not just reviewing this movie because it won the Oscar a few weeks ago, even if that is one reason. "Moonlight" is a wonderful film that is a coming of age story about an African-American man who is bullied for being gay.

It is hard to describe the plot in a sentence or two, but I can tell you the movie is told in three different parts, one as a kid, teen and a grown man. The boy's name is Chiron, and his mother(like many at the time) was a crack-addict and would never give Chiron the love he needed.

Chiron, as a young boy, met a friendly drug dealer and his girlfriend, who are the only ones sharing affection with him. The dealer, Juan, and his girlfriend take care of him by feeding him, and letting him spend the night on occasions.

As he grows up, Chiron gets bullied even more, and it almost seems as everything gets worse. Having trouble with his identity, he meets a troublemaker named Kevin who actually has feelings for him, and they experience sexuality.

But of course, there are always more conflicts for him to experience. When a grown man, he becomes someone else, not who the real, "little" Chiron is. "Moonlight" is a hard movie to watch at many parts, including the second act.

It is also hard to relate to these characters, bullied, black, gay and surrounded by drugs. The real reason why this movie is so emotional, so captivating is because of the incredible performances by ALL, and the WONDERFUL directing from Barry Jenkins.

I left this movie crying, because at the end it's almost like a fill in the blank, you have to understand from what Chiron has gone through, and how he turns out. Many people dislike this movie, to be mean towards black people, and I assure you, if no one told me or you this had an all-black cast, you wouldn't notice.

Rated R.