Moonlight ⁞⁞ Queer Classics

The 2017 Academy Award winner for Best Picture was the acclaimed 2016 queer drama Moonlight. This modern classic explored the life of Chiron across three different time periods in his life. Beginning with his harsh childhood, growing up in Miami under the absentee rule of his drug-addicted mother Paula (Naomie Harris), he learned tough life lessons and worked to escape the bullying of his community. Known as Little (Alex Hibbert), due to his stature, the shy boy would experience a chance meeting with Juan (Mahershala Ali), a neighborhood drug dealer who took an interest in helping the young boy embrace a sense of self-worth while clashing with his disapproving mother. Juan provided a safe space for the young Little, along with his girlfriend Teresa (Janelle Monáe). After hearing homophobic slurs directed at him, Little would seek answers from Juan & Teresa, who supported him, letting him know that he would understand his sexuality in his own time. It was then that he also became friends with his classmate Kevin. 

Moving forward in time to his teen years, 16-year-old Chiron (Ashton Sanders) would encounter an even harsher coming of age, due to physical abuse from classmates at school and his mother at home, as she demanded any helpful money he was given from Teresa in the years after Juan's death. Chiron now more understands his sexuality as he experiences dreams of Kevin (Jharrel Jerome) while Teresa supports him with words of encouragement, love and pride. Chiron sought more opportunities to escape, finding solace at the beach where Juan first taught him to swim as a child. It's there where Kevin finds him, leading to his first kiss and sexual encounter. But, when Kevin bows to school bullies who taunt him into fighting the outcast Chiron, it is Chiron who reaches a breaking point, finally lashing out with violence against his primary tormentor Terrel and his lot in life, leading the quiet and harmless boy to be arrested. 

Picking up years later, Chiron is now an adult, known as Black (Trevante Rhodes), the nickname given to him by Kevin in their youth. Having moved to Atlanta, he leads a non-eventful life but still appears weighed down by his harsh upbringing. Spurned on by Juan's advice to make his own decisions for himself, Black pays a visit to his mother in rehab, where she offers apologies and comfort from her past treatment of him. Their emotional breakthrough comes just before he's contacted out of the blue by Kevin (André Holland). After years of separation, Black makes the decision to venture back to Miami where he and Kevin catch up. Kevin is upset to see that Chiron didn't move on to a better life after their teen years and his incarceration. Black works up the courage to explain to him how he never opened himself up to being touched by another man after their night on the beach. The film ends with Kevin holding him, before flashing to a final shot of young Little on the beach in the moonlight, highlighting that location as Chiron's safe place of possibility.

 

Queer Classic Film Facts: 

• The film was adapted from an unproduced play "In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue" written by the film's queer black co-writer Tarell Alvin McCraney.
• The film made history in several ways with its 2017 Academy Award win for Best Picture. It was the first LGBTQ+ film to win in that category. It was also the first film with an entirely black cast to win the award. With a budget of $1.5 million, Moonlight was the lowest budget feature to win Best Picture, adjusted for inflation. Mahershala Ali also won the award for Best Supporting Actor.
  
• Director Barry Jenkins revealed that due to the film's split timelines, he ensured that the three actors playing Chiron did not interact during filming as he didn't want their performances to be influenced by one another. 
• The entire film was shot on location in South Florida over the course of 25 days. 
• Both Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney drew inspiration for the film's script from their childhoods where both were raised by mothers suffering from drug addiction.
  
• Despite their characters being the same age in the film, André Holland is actually ten years older than his co-star Trevante Rhodes. 
• In addition to its Oscar wins, Moonlight also won the Critics Choice Award for Best Acting Ensemble, the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film - Wide Release, the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama, and the NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Writing and Directing. Ashton Sanders & Jharrel Jerome also won the iconic MTV Award for Best Kiss in 2017. 
  
• Naomie Harris is the only actor to appear in all three time frames during the film. She filmed her entire role in just three days as production scheduled it around the UK actress' promotional tour for the film Spectre in the US.  
  
• Actors Mahershala Ali and Janelle Monáe both starred in the film Hidden Figures, which was released in theaters at the same time as Moonlight.
• The film features a producer credit for Brad Pitt. Barry Jenkins enlisted the assistance of Pitt in order to secure filming funds and a distribution deal for the movie.