Critical Score: 9/10
Thoughts: In comparison to Joker, Moonlight delivers on all aspects that dragged it down in my initial ranking. Moonlight does a fantastic job of using sound design to drive its story, by having the child and teen parts of the story mostly tonally isolated, illustrating how alone and empty Chiron feels in his adolescence. In his adulthood, sound features a lot more prominently, and his environment feels more lively and cluttered compared to his past, showing how he’s moved on from the struggles of his childhood and he’s gained control of his own narrative. Moonlight does a much better job than Joker in dialogue, as where I found some of the dialogue in Joker to feel artificial and stressful, Moonlight’s dialogue flowed beautifully and enveloped me in the setting of each and every part of Chiron’s story. My biggest gripe with Joker was how it was paced, having a clunky first half and a rushed ending, and Moonlight greatly improved on my pacing issue, spending just enough time on each shot and segment of Chiron’s life. Each shot felt impactful and important to the story because it did not feel as if the scenes were dragging on or even rehashing the thoughts and feelings Chiron had already displayed. Heavy themes were displayed across the entire film, themes of substance abuse, homophobia, peer pressure, and the struggle of being black in America. I think the film masterfully navigates these themes and tackles them tastefully whilst also giving an insightful view into each issue, culminating in a fantastic piece of film that will forever be used as an example of some of the best political storytelling to come out of the 21st century.
Favourite scene: What’s a faggot?
As someone who is LGBTQIA+, This scene resonated deeply with me, as it encapsulates the scared and depressing thoughts that go through the head of a young child having to deal with homophobic attack. This scene really impacted me because of the sudden nature of the conversation, and coupled with the movie’s pre-established use of silence and pauses, really shocks audiences. “Faggot” is such a strongly taboo’d word, and it’s use to break the silence shot right through me when first watching, and it fully engaged me with what Chiron was trying to navigate at that time. Mahershala Ali and Janelle Monae do a fantastic job of playing these authority figures in Chiron’s life, and their performances in this scene act as my highlight of the movie. The nuanced expressions that Juan displays when trying to formulate answers to Chiron’s questions do an amazing job of portraying the relationship between a parent and a child dealing with homophobia.
