A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.
- Won 3 Oscars
- 233 wins & 310 nominations total
- Little
- (as Alex Hibbert)
- Azu
- (as Duan 'Sandy' Sanderson)
- Longshoreman
- (as Herman 'Caheej' McGloun)
- Gee
- (as Rudi Goblin)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Best Picture Winners by Year
Best Picture Winners by Year
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaNaomie Harris had to shoot her entire role in three days, in between her promotional tour of Spectre (2015), due to a visa problem (Harris is British). The scenes spanned 15 years in the character's life and were filmed out of sequence.
- GoofsWhen Chiron and his mother are in their house and she asks him for money, his backpack is placed at his front, strapped over both shoulders. However, in several shots where he is seen from the back, there is no strap over his left shoulder. At one point he switches the backpack from his front to his back, but right after that, when his mother starts struggling with him, the backpack is at his front again.
- Quotes
Juan: [to Little] Let me tell you something, man. There are black people everywhere. You remember that, okay? No place you can go in the world ain't got no black people, we was the first on this planet.
[Slight pause]
Juan: I've been here a long time. I'm from Cuba. Lotta black folks in Cuba. You wouldn't know that from being here, though. I was a wild little shorty, man. Just like you. Running around with no shoes on, when the moon was out. This one time, I ran by this old... this old lady. I was runnin' and hollerin', and cuttin' a fool, boy. This old lady, she stopped me. She said...
[He pauses]
Juan: [Imitating an old lady's voice] "Runnin' around, catching up all that light. In moonlight, black boys look blue. You blue, that's what I'm gon' call you. 'Blue'."
Little: So your name 'Blue'?
Juan: [Chuckles] Nah.
[Another pause]
Juan: [to Little] At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you gonna be. Can't let nobody make that decision for you.
- Crazy creditsThere are no opening credits.
- Alternate versionsDespite the 'A' (adults only) rating, the Indian theatrical release was cut by 53 seconds by the Censor Board to mute all instances of "bitch/bitches, motherfucker, and dick", the sex scene between Kevin and Chiron, and the homosexual kiss between 2 boys. After cuts, 2 minutes was added to promote anti-smoking disclaimers.
- SoundtracksEvery Nigger Is a Star
Written by Boris Gardiner and Barrington Gardiner
Performed by Boris Gardiner
Remix by Dennis "DEZO" Williams
Courtesy of Now-Again Records, LLC obo Jazzman Records LTD.
Finally getting round to seeing 'Moonlight', it turned out that it was more than well worth the while and that the wariness was not needed. 'Moonlight' is not a perfect film and may not have been my personal pick for the Best Picture award (for me that was 'La La Land' though that is not a popular opinion it seems). Truly admired what it set out to do and found it a brave and powerful film, despite what the detractors say there is far more to 'Moonlight's' appeal than politics, sexuality and race (clearly trying to find conspiracy theories and reasons for why a film they dislike is loved by others, without taking into account that the film simply just connected to and resonated with those who liked it).
'Moonlight' does end on an anti-climactic note, some of the last act is a bit rushed. A longer length would have helped as a result, it also would have helped make a couple of events in the first act a little clearer and not so choppy.
It may not say much new, despite the ground-breaking concept on paper with the exploration of lives rarely seen on film, and doesn't always have subtlety. Then again it is tackling far from subtle themes and a heavy subject, so that sort of was going to be inevitable.
However, 'Moonlight' is an exceptionally well made film. The cinematography and editing are some of the most eye-pleasing and best of that year, and can't find anything to fault the expertly handled direction. The music is cleverly mixed and has haunting power and fluidity.
Regarding the writing, it is not perfect, at times as said a little heavy-handed and vague in parts, but it is thought-provoking and handles very ambitious, relevant, important themes with power, truth and (mostly) delicacy. The story makes the most of the three act structure, it's handled simply but not simplistically and also handled cleverly and with passion, honesty and intelligence. Found myself relating quite a lot to and being moved significantly by the story and found the film handled a heavy and sensitive subject matter with a lot of relevance and importance today more than admirably.
Can't fault the acting, doing wonders with compellingly real characters and strongly defined character relationships (especially the central one). Much has been made of Maharshala Ali and Naomie Harris and deservedly with two of the best performances that year, Ali especially is extraordinary. It is easy though to overlook Alex R. Hibbert, Trevante Rhodes and Ashton Sanders and one shouldn't, as they are just as worthy (particularly Sanders).
Overall, didn't completely blow me away but very well done and with a lot to admire. 8/10 Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- May 15, 2018
- Permalink
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $4,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $27,854,932
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $402,075
- Oct 23, 2016
- Gross worldwide
- $65,172,611
- Runtime1 hour 51 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1