Moonlight 15

Moonlight follows the life of its protagonist, Chiron, in three stages: his early school days known as “Little”, bullied by his peers into hiding in run-down buildings; Chiron in his teenage years as the subject of more intense and violent bullying, and his adult life as “Black”. Through this timeline, Jenkins is able to explore universal themes of family, identity and sexuality with the lens firmly on black American life in film, particularly black masculinity. We are shown the progression of various relationships in Chiron’s life and the impact of others in these different stages, from the volatile home-life with his mother to gentle kisses by the sea with a classmate.

Moonlight is an expansive, yet beautifully intimate and emotionally rich portrait of black American life, focusing on the significance of human connections in the development and understanding of the self.