Moonlight, written and directed by Barry Jenkins, is a coming of age film based on a Semi- Autobiography play made by Tarell Alvin, In Moonlight Black Boys look Blue. A coming of age film is a genre of movie that centers around the life and character growth of it’s main protagonist. Genre is a way to categorize entertainment, in this case, movies and films. They usually either center around teenagers, and are often set in the past.
This movie was created by Tarrel Alvin, which can be found by the way he communicates with his audience, with his slow pacing, and the way he conveys mood with light, colour and sound. Each frame he does relies more on the substance, and every single shot in the film was well thought out, and made for a specific reason. This movie is also a part of the Queer Theory, which talks about movies that are non-straight or non-cis (people whose identity matches their sex), and go against the heteronormative. Movies in the Queer theory are usually celebrated for their uniqueness and their individuality.
This movie in particular centers around the life of Chiron, his identity, and how the people and the general environment around him change him. The main character, Chiron, is played by three different people, to not only show an actual age change, but to represent the changes in his personality, attitude, and the outward persona that he puts in front of himself.
In this video, we’ll be looking at three scenes, each from the three scenes in the film; “Little”, “Chiron”, and “Black”, and discussing what each scene says about the character in the film.
The first scene we’re looking at is the scene where Paula, Chiron’s mother, is yelling at “Little” Chiron in the hallway. The scene is there to (will finish this sentence later)
The camerawork in this film, as stated by the director, was specifically chosen to create a connection to our main character. He states that every shot was made to “Not have the audience outside the film, but create an interaction between Actor and Audience.” James Laxton, the cinematographer said that these types of shots were chosen by the director so he could reel the audience in. In an interview, he said that the audience should “feel like you’re being spoken to, like the actors and characters are being spoken to as well. If you’re further out, then the relationship with the audience changes.” This was inspired by In the Mood for Love, which had a similar cinematography style. This scene in particular has the camera in between the two characters in the scene, Chiron and Paula, to make us feel like we’re in the middle of the argument, looking at the scene from both perspectives. In this scene, both of the characters are framed in the middle of the screen, which makes this movie feel like a confrontation or a staredown. The hallway around Paula is very clean and blank, the room that Chiron is standing has a very chaotic mis en scene, which shows their financial status, and the mess tells gives the audience an idea of what the mother is like.
The lighting in this film is also a part of the colour palette, with a hot pink for Paula, and a bright sky blue for Chiron. While the blue is very subtle and barely noticable for Chiron, the pink is very bright and apparent for Paula, which shows who has more power in the relationship.
The music here, like all of the movie, is to mirror the emotions of Chiron, so we can relate to how he feels. Here, the music is very hurried, which creates a feeling of panic, and fear, despite the brave look on his face. The music, is all we actually hear in this scene, as there is no other sound, even when the mother begins to yell. This implies that Chiron is trying to block out the sound of his mother, and by extension, the reality that he is in.
In the first third of the film, the camera establishes the relationships that Chiron has with other people via two shots and transitions of the camera. Usually, the smoother it is, the higher chance there is a more healthy relationship. However, this scene is filled with cutaways and jump cuts, which shows us a disconnect, or a lack of affection in this Mother-Son relationship.
The next scene we’ll be looking at is at the very end of the second third of the movie, which is the Chair Revenge scene. This comes directly after the scene where Chiron gets betrayed by Kevin, his closest friend, due to peer pressure from a bully, Terrell. Chiron has reached his breaking point, and beats up Terrel with a chair.
All of the shots in the film were designed to make us feel like we’re interacting with Chiron. Many of the shots, especially the ones from behind, make us feel like we’re following him, and the close ups show his expression. The only time there are any cutaways in the editing, is to change the perspective of the camera, yet the camera is mostly on him, the only exceptions being reaction shots, to show us the surprised looks of the other characters.
The sound is also pretty quiet, and silent at some points, aside from the slamming of the doors, which sorta represents him breaking down his barriers and his morals, his anger taking over. The sound then becomes the normal, diegetic sound of a classroom when the music dies down, to represent the setting of peace in the room, before it gets affected by Chiron.
The music in this scene is very quiet. The music has a lot of clashing notes, and overall sounds very disjointed, which represents all the negative feelings (anger, sadness, betrayal, ect.) That he felt from the aftermath of his closest friend beating him. The moment Chiron whacks Terrel with the chair is completely silent, as if the film is mourning someone, in this case, the death of Chiron’s innocence. The music kicks in again during the final two POV shots, when Chiron sees Kevin while in the police car, because seeing him has triggered an emotional reaction. In a way, it’s a mirror of his emotional state.
The final scene we’ll be looking at is the very last scene in the movie, when Chiron and Kevin finally reconcile after years of being away. For the entire last third, the most we get from Chiron is “Black”, a cold and hard persona that he’s created to defend himself. This is one of the few moments in that film where he’s vulnerable, and not in said persona.
The shots are similar to the ones in the first scene, where the camera is put in between Chiron and Kevin, which not only makes us feel like we’re in the conversation, it also lets us see from the perspective of both characters. This is so we feel like we’re a part of the conversation.
The sound starts off as just the air, so the focus would be directly at the two characters on the screen. Then, later on, the sounds of the ocean waves come in, which is a direct reference to the beginning of the film, where Chiron learns how to swim from Juan, with high implications of a baptism, which signifies purification and rebirth. In a way, this last scene is also like that.
The fade in-between the two scenes imply a passage of time. When the scene zooms in on Chiron, then jump cuts to The final scene with “little” at the ocean, it implies that we are looking into how he feels; like a kid again, something he hasn’t felt in a very long time, due to “black” the persona he’s made for himself.
The last shot is also referencing a line in the first act, “In moonlight, black boys look blue.” the character ‘Black’ is a extra persona, or facade that he’s put up for himself. ‘Black’ represents all of the hard and masculine expectations that people in his situation are supposed to make, but in moonlight they look blue, and their vunerablilties are shown.
The music in this scene doesn’t kick in until halfway through the last scene with “Black” (Chiron) and Kevin, and even then it’s only just a piano playing along with the ocean.
Throughout the entire film, the music is composed to reflect Chiron’s emotions, and his state of mind. The last piano here represents his peace of mind, after reconciling with Kevin.
Moonlight first premiered in the Telluride Film Festival on September 6th, 2016, as an arthouse film, and was wide released in US Cinemas on October 21st, 2016, which bumped its box office numbers to 1.5 million in five days.
The film received high praise for how graceful it was, and the reliability of the main character. Many audience members, especially ones that were in the same financial situation that he was in, and/or gay people of colour, found themselves relating to Chiron and his struggles, and found him to be a very realistic representation of them. This might be partially through to the Queer Theory, which talks about movies that are anti-straight, and are celebrated for their individuality.
However, the film was also highly criticised for being too slow paced and boring, and that people that did not hit the demographic of the main character couldn’t find anything that would relate them to the character.
Moonlight grabbed 65 million dollars at the box office, was nominated for six oscar awards, and won the Oscar for the Best Supporting actor, the Best adapted screenplay, and Best Motion Picture award. It was the first LGBT film, with an all black cast, and the the second lowest-grossing film to ever win Best Picture, and the New York Times considered it to be one of the ‘Best Movies in the 21st Century’.
Another factor in this movie's success was the time it came out. The film came out at a time when people were complaining about how there were less people who were minorities who were winning any oscars. Tags such as #OscarsSoWhite were trending, and this movie seemed like the perfect contender to break the streak.