If you haven't seen an A24 film in the past 2 years, I hope I can persuade you to.
A24 is an independent film company located in New York, and has produced some of the most famous Oscar nominees, such as Ladybird and the Florida Project. You might remember Moonlight for winning best picture at the Oscars in 2017.
I saw Barry Jenkin's Moonlight after the Oscars while I was still in love with La La Land, and I was kind of upset they lost. However, seeing Moonlight completely changed my perspective.
This film beautifully defied genre and gave us audience members so many things to think about. Moonlight follows a boy named Chiron through his early years, all the way up onto adulthood, played by three different actors. Growing up in a rough neighborhood in Miami, we see him struggle through experiences with bullying, questioning his sexuality, and struggling with his home life. As usual, I had many things to think about after I watched this.
The Representation
We watch Chiron struggle from a young age with his sexuality. In an early scene, when most of his friends call him "Little," a couple named Juan and Teresa (played by Mahershala Ali and Janelle Monáe) take him under their wing after he is neglected by his mom, and he asks them about homosexuality and they have a conversation about it.
Not only that, most of the cast is of color. A film representing both of these things is actually huge. The fact that it was Oscar nominated and won best picture is also so huge.
Chiron's Identity Struggle
A big theme I was able to notice is Chiron's identity struggle. He grows up in an area where gay slurs are thrown around like its nothing, and it's quite obvious he isn't able to be who he truly wants to be. The film throughout asks the question of, "is identity something you are in control of or is it something developed based on what has happened to you in your life?"
We see Chiron at three different stages in his life
i. is titled "little,"
ii. is titled "chiron."
iii. is titled "black."
Through each of these stages in his life, we see Chiron struggle to find himself. At his oldest stage, we see him adapt to the lifestyle that Juan, the man that helped raise him, had when Chiron was young. A drug dealer, the way he dresses, the car he drives, etc. all are themes we saw in Juan early in the film.
This leaves us asking, did Chiron truly choose the way he is living his life, or did he simply take over an identity that was fated for him in the beginning?
Family Struggle
In Moonlight, we see Chiron struggle with his family life. He lives in a home with no father and a mother with a drug addiction, leaving him to his surrogate parents Juan and Teresa, who take him in and somewhat nurture him. However, we learn that Juan sells drugs to Chiron's mother. Trapping him in a cycle with important figures in his life involved with drugs. Ultimately shaping him to be the person he becomes at the end of the film.
Masculinity
Finally, in this A24 film we watch Chiron struggle with trying to appear masculine. This is a key theme throughout, as a young kid he is forced to wrestle with a friend to prove he isn't "soft." We can see however, that Chiron appears less masculine than most of the boys he is surrounded by. When he is a teenager, also, to prove that he is "a man," he is forced to beat up one of his closest friends, Kevin, and he does show just to prove himself.
To be honest, there is so much more I could say about this film. It is truly life changing, and one film that made me want to pursue film as a career. I hope that, if you haven't seen it you do.
