MIA Magazine Art of Black Miami December 2016 | Page 5

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30TH, 2016

AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MIA MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS GROUP TO THE MIAMI HERALD

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MOONLIGHT: WILL THE HOOD WIN AN OSCAR?
By Juana Bethel

“Every n*gga is a star,” the 1974 reggae tune,
blares through unseen speakers, and then
coming into focus a dark man’s face. At first,
you might think this man is the star, but
you would be wrong, and then again, you
would be right. This film, appropriately titled
Moonlight, is as much about the dope dealer
who opens the film, as it is about the little boy
he tries to save. A little boy who, it turns out,
needs saving from everyone.
The movie, set against the backdrop of
Miami’s gritty Liberty City neighborhoods,
works to tell a coming of age story through
the eyes of a little boy, Chiron, who finds
release in an ocean only a few miles, yet
worlds away from his home. The film’s
director, Barry Jenkins, a Liberty City success
story, channels his intimate knowledge of
black manhood, boyhood, and struggle, to
weave each scene together into a tapestry
of blues and blacks. The film’s screenwriter,
New World School of the Arts alum, Tarell
McCraney, initially wrote the play In
Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue nearly a
decade ago. McCraney’s play was shelved
but by chance, a few years later, found its
way into Jenkins’ hands. Somewhere along
the way, Hollywood A-lister Brad Pitt and his
company Plan B backed Moonlight’s progress.
Both Jenkins and McCraney’s styles combine
beautifully to bring the script to life on the
silver screen. “I’m from a more poetic
dialogue and background, and Barry has an

incredible eye for visual storytelling; his ability
to marry sound and visuals is extraordinary,”
McCraney said in an interview with the Fader.
Rising stars Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monet and
Naomi Harris give life to complex characters
with questionable morals, whose saving grace
is that they share a deep love for a lost little
boy. But it is the virtually unknown actors
who play Chiron, the story’s protagonist,
and Kevin, Chiron’s only friend, who steal
the show. Our first introduction to Chiron is
wide eyed and guarded, played with innocent
genius by Miami-native Alex Hibbert. In his

performance you see the hope of childhood
strain to break through the bleakness of
Chiron’s everyday reality. He is a glum child
whose mother cannot, no matter how hard
she tries, love him more than a rock of crack.
The younger Kevin, is played by Miami-native
Jaden Piner. Alex and Jaden’s roles are pivotal
to the story, as these two first-time actors
share the responsibility of setting the stage
for who the characters will become as the
story unfolds.
Chiron is chased by bullies through
dilapidated Liberty City housing complexes,
that bring Miami’s grit to life through beatenup buildings, beaten-down black mothers,
bruised black boys and hardened black men.
The untold story of Miami’s scenic beaches
comes to life—the truth is that even in 2016,
those beaches are rarely visited by poor
youth who live just a few miles away. It is
when Juan, Chrion’s Afro-Cuban, drug-dealing
father figure, takes him to the beach for the
first time, that Chiron learns to swim, and
finds release.
Ultimately, Moonlight is a hauntingly beautiful
film that is gaining notoriety because it tells
a story that we all know: no matter who you
are, where you’re from or what you’ve done,
you can see yourself in a wide-eyed child
who has overcome challenges, and found the
courage to become the hero of his own story.
Moonlight is currently playing in limited
theaters nationwide.