Moonlight: Finding One's Inner Self

 This blog post will be focused on the movie Moonlight (2016).  Moonlight (2016) is a Thriller/Romance film that is directed by Barry Jenkins.  The movie follows Chiron, a black male who is trying to find out who he really is, and this journey is split into three acts, one when he is a child, one where he is in high school, and one where he is a fully grown man.  How the movie is built by these three acts and how they progress is one strong point of the film, as the film feels that it is telling a coherent and straightforward story.  The messages or themes in this film are also very good.  For example, the environment that Chiron grows up in is very realistic to the environment some young kids that live in urban areas are used to, and it isn't cliché either.  Also, as he becomes older and the story progresses from act to act, the amount of people that he feels comfortable being around becomes less and less because he starts discovering who he is, which is different from the community that he lives in, and that community is portrayed to not understand that difference.  

However, the best part of this film is the acting and performances.  Every single important character in this film plays a big role in the film, whether that be a friend of Chiron, his caretakers, or his "enemies".  And in all the situations they are in, they do a great job of making them feel real, and have real, genuine reactions to what is happening around them.  This is especially highlighted with all the actors that play Chiron, they all do a fantastic job of being real in the situations they are in, without forcing anything.  Moonlight (2016) is a film that puts a spotlight on what urban communities are like in the real world, and is a great example of how to do character development through a journey of life.