Moonlight

Oh my heart – I don’t know how they did it, but every shot in in Moonlight is filled with the greatest longing for love that I’ve seen in a long time. Romantic love, platonic love, familial love – all are vital in helping children make their tumultuous way into adulthood, and yet they are relationships that Chiron lacks in his life. He finds temporary respites, in the home of Juan and Theresa, and with his friend Kevin, but he moves through life scared of being his true self. So he builds barriers and doesn’t let people through. He denies his name and rejects his past.

Only in reconciling with his mother, however, can Chiron find the strength to change, leading to one of the more tense penultimate scenes in all of film, ending in the sweetest final shots before cutting to black. Moonlight is about the wonder that we find in each other, and how we spend all our lives looking for that feeling again and again.