The Rectangular View

The Story:

Moonlight is the closest I’ve seen to a perfect film in years. The acting is on point, the script is excellent, and the cinematography makes it difficult to turn away. It’s a compelling story of the effects of being young, black, and gay in urban America and will tear at your heart. It follows the main character, Chiron, as a child, teenager, and a young adult in three acts.

The first act introduces all the central characters and defines their roles in Chiron’s life. It opens with a young, lanky Chiron running from a group of bullies, ducking into an abandoned apartment complex and locking himself inside one of the units, where he finds a discarded crack pipe. He gets rescued by Juan, a local drug dealer who is saddled with the task of getting Chiron to trust him and tell him where he lives. Chiron doesn’t tell Juan anything until the next day, when we meet Paula, Chiron’s mother, who seems more defensive that a stranger is bringing her son home than worried that her son has been missing so long.

The final central character is Chiron’s only friend, a boy named Kevin, who reaches out to Chiron on the playground and gives him pointers on how keep the bullies away. The child actors who play Chiron, Alex Hibbert, and Kevin, Jaden Piner, work well together and are surprisingly adept at playing their characters, which could not have been easy for actors so young.

Naomie Harris plays Chiron’s mother without apology or remorse. We first see her before she gets addicted to crack, then in her full-blown addiction, and finally at the end. She’s not a likeable character, and it’s difficult to sympathize with her.

Mahershala Ali plays Juan, the man who discovers Chiron hiding in an abandoned apartment and takes him under his wing. Juan is hard edged yet kind. He acts as a father figure to Chiron, who visits Juan and his girlfriend, played by Janelle Monáe, often. Juan is strong and confident until the end of the first act, when Chiron asks him if he’s a drug dealer and we get a hint that he’s ashamed of the man he’s become. Ali depicts Juan’s inner turmoil with himself without words, and the depth of his shame is palpable. It’s an honest, sad, and touching moment that makes you feel for both Juan and Chiron, who has just learned that his hero has flaws.

The end of the second act, when Chiron is a teenager and has had enough of being bullied is strong, powerful and will tear you apart. Jharrel Jerome plays the teenage Kevin, who has learned how to keep himself safe from bullies and stay clean. Kevin’s anguish, his fear, and the pain at what he needs to do to stay alive is fully realized. I can’t say anything more about the second act because it’s pivotal to the story and I don’t want to ruin it.

While the actors who play Chiron as a child (Alex Hibbert) and a teen (Ashton Sanders) did exceptional jobs keeping the nuances in place, it’s Trevante Rhodes who really took it home playing Chiron as an adult. Although Chiron has become hardened and learned to fight to stay alive, the scared little boy is still visible. And the final reunion between Kevin (André Holland) and Chiron as adults is so full of emotional depth that the honest ending gives us all we need, even though it doesn’t wrap everything up in a tidy package.

Final Thoughts:

Barry Jenkins wrote and directed this amazing film that deserves all the accolades it received and then some. Moonlight is a brilliant piece of filmmaking. Do not miss it.