A24’s and Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight follows the three stage of Chiron’s life, growing up as a young black man struggling with his sexual identity as well as his home life in Miami. Chiron, unfortunately, has a harsh home life, absent of love for the majority of his life. In this scene, Chiron is coming home after spending the night at his “surrogate mother’s”, Teresa’s, house. The disconnect that Chiron has with his biological is shown through a point-of-view/subjective shot, allowing the audience to be in Chiron’s shoes. A lot of Moonlight’s cinematography is focused on making the audience feel apart of the scene, but that principle shines especially bright here. At times, Chiron’s mother’s, Paula’s, words don’t match up with her lips, demonstrating the dissociation that Chiron has with her as a part of his life.
In Chiron’s first stage of his life, he is nicknamed “Little” and bullied due to his sensitivity and tranquility, something that is stereotypically not associated with men. He is ostracized from the rest of his male peer due to his emotional maturity, but he does find companionship in another boy, Kevin. In this long shot, the audience is forced to look at Kevin and “Little” as they are the center of the shot and the focal point. There is also a lot of negative space on the side and up top, creating a feeling of isolating for normality and that these two boys are the only ones to understand each other.
Water plays an intricate part of Moonlight as water is associated with a new beginning or a baptism of sorts. Water often plays apart in each of Chiron’s chapters in his life and acts as a sort of turning point. It is shown here and then is used after he is hurt by Kevin. In this shot, the movement of the camera takes the audience underneath the water with Chiron. This signifies the first true moment that the audience is being asked to step into Chiron and experience his life firsthand with him. This scene is also one of the more brighter or well lit scenes in Moonlight, illustrating that this is one of the more positive and calm moments in Chiron’s life.
After getting punched by his childhood friend Kevin, Chiron goes to the bathroom to wash the blood off his face. This scene is shot with stylized lighting, giving an out of Earth atmosphere. Cinematographer James Laxton used stylized lighting rather than naturalistic lighting to show the reality altering event of a life long friend’s betrayal and crumbling due to peer pressure. For Chiron, this experience is not real and is shown through the whimsical light blue lighting. This scene’s key light comes from the background and illuminates the wall rather than Chiron’s features, giving him a shadowy effect. This could also be a metaphor of Chiron blending into the toxic masculinity trope that he tried so desperately to avoid as this scene is the turning part where he becomes harsh and cold and loses his vulnerability.
In this scene below, Kevin and Chiron are slowly repairing their relationship. Here, a medium close-up is used to demonstrate the intimacy and understanding of their relationship is slowly building back after years of being tarnished. They are the only two individuals present in the frame, and they are the only ones to matter in each other lives. James Laxton also mixes the usage of stylized lighting and naturalistic lighting to demonstrate that this loving relationship is real in Chiron but in a way in wishful thinking and fantastical due to Chiron’s distrust stemming from previous relationships.
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