Moonlight (2016), R, ★★★★

Carry you out to sea. Just kidding.

I have not heard much about this movie going in to the assigned theater except that it was good. When the theatre went dark, I was immersed by the glowing Miami sun that accentuates the everlasting heat that sets upon the characters in the film because I have been there and I do know what it feels like to be under the glaring sun. You would not want to walk on the streets for a long period of time. However, this is a different focus for a movie in Miami. I have not encountered a movie that sets across three periods of time that is both confusing and revelatory for one protagonist. He is confronted about who he is and what is his state in relation to others. This movie is conflicted, personal and glowing with such confusing agony and small hopeful glimmer that it will impact you when the movie is over.

Like I said above, the movie is set across three different points of the protagonist's life but I'll try to avoid spoilers.

In Miami, a drug dealer named Juan (Mahershala Ali) meets with one of his boys collecting dope off the streets. Juan goes by a hole when a young boy named Chiron (played by Alex Hibbert in the childhood sequences) is being chased and bullied. Juan pulls off a wooden board from the window and finds the boy hiding. He is nicknamed other things but for now, to avoid confusion in the review, his name is Chiron. Juan takes Chiron to his girlfriend's, Teresa's (Janelle Monae), place to feed him. The next day, Juan takes Chiron back to his home as his drug-addicted mother, Paula (Naomie Harris) keeps him away from Juan as he attempts to say goodbye.

Chiron is friends with a boy named Kevin (played by Jaden Piner in the childhood sequences). Kevin expresses concern for Chiron that he is so soft and needs to be tough to fight other opponents in life and on the streets and he play-fights with Chiron.

NOW BE WARNED! The next paragraph will get into spoiler territory.

Chiron's confrontation regarding his sexuality is being introduced as he and his friends were showing their private parts in a room. He asks Juan, who is revealed to be Paula's drug dealer and boyfriend, what the term "faggot" is because Paula asks Juan why he is being picked on at school. Juan tears up because he knows that he will have a very difficult future regarding his status. Chiron, as a teenager (now played by Ashton Sanders) is being harassed by Terrel (Patrick Decile), another bully, just for no reason. Kevin (now played by Jharrel Jerome) is ecstatic because he received some pleasure from a girl and got detention for it. Later, as both Chiron and Kevin sit on a beach and after having a blunt talk, something revealing happens that will have Chiron as a more vulnerable character because of that event.

This movie is a poetic trance that will engage you with some people in conversation regarding LGBT rights in modern society as it is witnessed in the movie. I have seen some films regarding that topic in different times such as Brokeback Mountain, Carol, a little bit in The Family Stone, The Imitation Game and so on. Some of those movies are either conventional or not as blunt in its subject that the filmmaker wants it to be. Filmmakers and studios back away from the material sometimes and also sometimes, they are treated with comedic nonsense or unnecessary value to the story. This subject in a modern time on the streets of Miami is unlike anything I've ever seen because it does not surround it but adds to the convenient issues of drugs and sex surrounding the inner and poor cities that destroys families and their futures.

Like I said before in the review, the movie is almost like it was translated from a novel of such importance that you want to know what will happen with these characters with their colorful language and their demonic struggles. But, not all of the scenes are inundated with doom because there are a few moments that reassure characters that there is hope in their poor and imperfect lives. There is a moment in the movie in which Juan teaches Chiron to swim as he is a father figure to him even though he has flaws. Chiron asks Juan about life and his childhood and Juan replies that that nobody should decide his path in life. It sets the stage for the story as how he will be confronted in life.

This is tricky because the actors who played Chiron including Trevante Rhodes give quietly great performances across the board as we see both confusion and suffering in his eyes as he has been dealt with so much struggle in his life both in and outside of jail. Naomie Harris should be considered for an Oscar nomination as the drug-addicted mother who asks for forgiveness later in the film because even though this character could easily have been one-note, her character is interesting as she is given  such a layered quality that you do not know what is coming. There have been some one-note drug addicts in films that do not work but this one is very well-drawn. And, the three actors playing Kevin including Andre Holland is really good.

Director Barry Jenkins, who is also the writer, has created an authentic and vibrant portrait of a young black character that is so well-written that you feel like he is an everyday person of that society. Chiron has some goals in life but is ruined by his conflicts of his status. Kevin does not meet his goals but his status does not haunt him in some way. And, one of its last scenes ends on one note that is clear that you want to know what will happen to these characters down the line. This movie is more character-driven in its story, well-set on the streets of Miami and congruent to the issues today in our society. I do not know if I will see this movie again but it will certainly be on everyone's minds when awards season kicks in because this is one of the best movies of the year. This is poetic, haunting and innovative filmmaking by Jenkins and should be garnered some praise for his work.

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