95%
Moonlight is such an amazing film that was worthy of best picture. Do I like it more than La La Land? Definitely not, no but it’s a lot more important and it comes pretty close. My score will probably go up on rewatch. This was just amazing. It’s such a beautiful movie. I think it gets a lot of unnecessary hate for winning best picture but my god it’s just so good. It’s a very sad and heartbreakingly beautiful film. It’s a hard watch but it’s so worth it. Barry Jenkins did something incredible with this film. It’s a slow movie but it was never boring(for me at least). I love when a film takes it’s time in a not boring fashion of course. The film just wowed me with it’s visuals and amazing character development. I was very hyped for this film and that hype completely payed off. This is just an emotional rollercoaster. It’s a film with so much meaning and importance. It not only tackles race problems but also has a gay main character. I’ve heard some people say that’s why people call it amazing but at least for me that’s not fully true. They definitely handle those topics in an amazing and special way but it’s so much more than that. Everything about it is incredible. It’s not your normal coming of age story. It’s important, it’s beautiful, and it’s just everything I want in a film. It really means a lot to me and definitely a lot of people. I can’t believe I hadn’t seen this until now. While it may be hard to rewatch, that’s definitely something I want to do. It’s definitely a masterpiece. I know I probably use that word too often but this is with out a doubt one. There are no flaws I can find for this film. Why isn’t it a five? Well first of all a 4.5 still means for me that the film really wouldn’t have flaws but also I become less keen to the idea of giving 5 stars on first watch. It’s just so incredible.

The characters in this were just amazing. The main character, Chiron, was just fantastic. The film is about him. We seem as a kid, a teenager, and as an adult. He lived a tough life. He didn’t have a father. His mother always took drugs and didn’t treat him right. He was bullied at school by the other kids. He and his mother were poor. Marhershala Ali was just incredible as Juan. He wasn’t in it much but he was just phenomenal. He deserved his Oscar win for best supporting actor. I loved his relationship with young Chiron or as many called him, Little. He was a father figure to the kid. He even thought Chiron how to swim. The beginning was probably the best part but the whole film is just amazing. Chiron was always a very quite person even when he grew up. He was a man of few words. As a teenager, his life seemed to get even harder. The bullying got even worse. His mother seemed to go crazier. His life was a mess. The last few minutes of this section were just phenomenal and heartbreaking. If you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about. I forgot to mention the incredible performance from Naomie Harris who played Chiron’s mother. She was very unlikable and she did a great job at portraying that. She had redeeming qualities. You could tell at times that she cared or tried to care for her son. Her performance was just amazing. I’m glad she didn’t win because of how phenomenal Viola Davis’s performance was but she was still very amazing. Even as an adult Chiron doesn’t fully have it figured out. I don’t think he ever knew what he wanted to do in life or who he wanted to be. He still wasn’t fully happy. He was in a gang. His life was still kind of a mess. In a way through all those years, he didn’t really change all to much. In ways yes but he was still figuring out who he wanted to be. Which is definitely alright but maybe he wasn’t making the most of his life. His character was just so interesting. He was just such a great lead. I loved the final twenty minutes with him meeting back up with his childhood friend, Kevin. The end maybe didn’t end in a satisfying way but that’s okay. Not every film has to. Sometimes it’s better not to. Each actor that played Chiron, all did an amazing job. Trevante Roberts, Alex R. Hibbert, and Aston Sanders all were amazing. All of them did a phenomenal job, respectively. I love films about characters. This is an amazing example of that. This film did an amazing at developing the characters especially the main one. He was the focus of the film. I know it’s not for everyone. I think it’s very slow paced but in a good way. It wouldn’t of worked with a faster pace to be honest. It never overstayed it’s welcome. I just love films where we can see a character develop in any sort of way. So I just adored this.

Barry Jenkins did such an incredible job at directing this. It just looks so beautiful. It’s really a visual achievement. Each shot is just beauty. It’s so nice to look at. It’s a visual treat for the eyes. It not only tells a story through characters and just the normal way of telling a story but also through visual storytelling. The cinematography here was just incredible. If it weren’t for La La Land this would’ve had a sweep at the technical awards. That film definitely looked better but it is always kind of sad that the looks of this film weren’t rewarded. It’s shot in such a realistically beautiful way. Jenkins wasn’t afraid of devastating the audience. It’s just so subtly sad. It makes your heart ache even if the sadness isn’t directly obvious. I love the shots on the beach and in the water. I love the parts where everything becomes quiet. The main character will stop listening or something like that. I don’t really know how to describe it but it adds to the almost devastating nature of this film. I love films about life. This is about the character but it’s also in a bigger sense about life. I’m very happy this won best picture. I think it really deserved it. Again I like La La Land more but this film earned it. It deserves all the praise it gets. It’s pure cinematic beauty. It’s an artistic film. I should get into more of the A24 catalog. They seem to have my types of film. This is just a mwah masterpiece.

One final thing I’ll talk about is the brilliant screenplay. Sure the film is very visually based but it’s not just that. There’s a reason this won best adapted screenplay. I loved the conversations in this film. I especially loved the conversations between Chiron and Juan. The dialogue was so good. It’s definitely not a super dialogue driven film but there is still a good amount of it. There were some long conversations. I loved the way it tackled the tough subject matters. All of it was done in such a special way. It was treated rightly and with care. It wasn’t something like Green Book which was very borderline. It did t do anything with gay aspect to the story and it didn’t treat racism in the best way either. This wasn’t exactly focused on racism. It was more about the troubles black people face. The hardships in their lives and I think it did it in an amazing way. It’s hard to put into words of how impactful and meaningful this film is. While the screenplay wasn’t the best aspect of the film, it was still absolutely spectacular. I think you just got to see this film for yourselves. It’s just truly amazing.

Please check this one out if you haven’t all ready. It’s not for everyone but my goodness. It’s just amazing. It’s extremely important. It’s a hard watch. It’s very sad but it’s one that you just have to see. I will definitely have to check out If Beale Street Could Talk soon as it’s another film from Barry Jenkins. From this film alone, he proved how amazing of a director he is. It is sad that he is doing a sequel/prequel/spin-off/I don’t know of the Lion King remake. Hopefully he will have some control and hopefully it won’t be a giant disgrace. Just every aspect of this was amazing. The performances and the characters and the screenplay and the topics it handles and the direction. They just did such an amazing job with this film! Overall Moonlight is a film that I think everyone should see and it’s really an amazing masterpiece.

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