Moonlight

    

 The 2016 film, Moonlight, directed by Barry Jenkins, follows the story of Chiron, through three acts. In the first act, young Chiron is known as "Little." Little is often bullied by his classmates and is clearly a lonely child. A man named Juan and his girlfriend Teresa take Little in when Juan finds him lost on the bad side of town. We later find out that Little's mother is a drug addict, and Juan is the one dealing her the drugs. Despite this, Juan and Teresa can shape young Little's life which impacts him in many ways. They have important conversations relating to sexuality and identity. 

    We enter the film's second act, where Chiron now goes by "Chiron." In this act, along with the previous and future acts, Chiron is extremely quiet and keeps to himself. Chiron's mother's drug addiction has worsened immensely to the point where she can no longer provide a mother figure for Chiron, which leads Chiron to often go to Teresa's home. When staying at her home, we find out that Juan has died. We can imagine that is has to do with his career, and that this has been a hard hit for Chiron. Juan acts as a father for Chiron in the first act, so this leaves Chiron lost. Although Chiron continues to be bullied in this act, and more intensely, he does have one student at the school he grows close to. His name is Kevin. Chiron and Kevin find each other alone at the beach, where they both go to relax. Here they share a sexual experience with each other, which is an eye-opening experience for Chiron, and makes him feel like he has someone. This feeling unfortunately gets taken away when Kevin is dared by the typical "school bullies" to beat Chiron up, and he does. This ultimately leads to Chiron completely isolating himself and turning himself cold and tough, which leads us to the third act. 

    Kevin had given the nickname "Black" to Chiron, which is the name Chiron uses in the third act. In the third act, Chiron looks quite different, and not simply because it's a different actor, Chiron has a tough look. He is extremely buff and has grills, and we find out is a drug dealer, like Juan. Chiron takes up this lifestyle after getting into trouble in his teenage years. Suddenly, Chiron receives a call from Kevin, whom he has yet to speak to since high school. Kevin was asking Chiron to come to a diner, where he works. We can observe the memories flooding into Chiron's mind while thinking about whether he should visit Kevin. In the meantime, Chiron visits his mother. She is at a rehab facility (I believe) and is sober. She and Chiron have a very emotional and loving conversation where she apologizes for everything and all of the pain she caused Chiron as a child. She begs Chiron to stop doing the work that he does for his safety. Chiron decides to make the trip to visit Kevin at his diner. Here, Kevin barely recognizes Chiron but is happy to see him. They have a deep conversation, reminiscing on the past, while Chiron eats the meal Kevin made for him. Eventually, Chiron goes to Kevin's apartment and opens up to Kevin, explaining how he was his first sexual encounter with a man, and only encounter ever. Kevin elaborates on the fact that Chiron isn't the same, and is putting on a front. This film ends emotionally and sweetly, with Kevin holding Chiron.

Overall, this movie was emotional and very tender. Although it was a bit slow, the story was really enjoyable. One of the largest portions of this movie was identity. The three-act aspect of the film is what made this theme shine. We can recognize each phase of Chiron's life and see how he has changed and why.  Through the first act, we can recognize Juan's impact on Chiron. Juan shares a story of a nickname he was given. He was given the nickname "Blue," since an old woman told him his skin looked blue in the moonlight. He explains the Chiron how he doesn't go by "Blue," because you have to make a name for yourself. He tells Chiron that he needs to figure out who he is.