Until now, I never tried to figure out the magic of Moonlight. It’s one of those extra nice little character dramas so effortlessly engaging that you wonder why every film can’t be at least this good. The film covers three pivotal stages in a young man’s life as he searches for identity, though he’s one of the most passive protagonists, and the arc of the film is watching his identity find him. There’s a jolting moment of violence in the middle that I’ll never forget because overall this is the most gentle film. The sequence that stays with me though is the extended diner conversation in the third section. The dialogue is very natural and timid, but everything has been building to this moment when the man finally is challenged directly about who he is and who he wants to be.
As for why such a simple film works, I see a mood at play here in the way it’s photographed by James Laxton. There are no dynamic frames, but there’s a glow to every scene, as if the emotions are so on the surface they’re lighting the shots from within themselves.
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