Moonlight
Word Count: 612
The movie I chose to analyze was Moonlight. Within the first few minutes of the film, a viewer can recognize that the movie is taking place in the past. The old cars in the background and the outfits that the characters are wearing, give it away. Each character has a personality with how they speak and the movement of the camera as it goes around a character while they are interacting with another character makes the film interesting to watch. When the character, Little, was fighting his friend to prove he wasn’t “soft,” the camera was shaking, giving the viewer a feeling that they were part of the tussling that the two boys were having. I personally liked the scene where Little is being taught to swim by another character, Juan, and the water hits the camera and continues to do so as they stay in the water. The first person interaction between Little and his mother when he is a young adult is cool and a viewer could feel discomfort when the mother is begging Little for money to buy drugs. The visuals of her being paler and acting jittery add to the scene. A viewer is able to see the pain in Little’s eyes as he goes through his struggles. Another visual that seemed to work well is when they made Little act different from the rest of the children as a child and later in the film it is revealed why he acts so different. The transitions from scene to scene are well executed as a viewer does not get lost in between them. For example, the transition from Little as a child to him as a young adult was done well, and the actor choice in picking him as a kid and him as a young adult was done well because the two actors have similar facial features to one another. It adds to the great visual elements that a presented throughout the film. It was a nice scene to add when Little is beaten up for being a homosexual, but then it transitions to him being in front of a Mirror becoming stronger than he was before and standing up to the bully that he was once scared of. After this scene, the transition from young adult to adult was meaningful because Little fell into the life that he did not want to be a part of. He went from disapproving Juan’s business in selling drugs and ended up doing the same. The sounds from a car engine roaring to windows shattering give a viewer more immersion while watching this film. Hearing the waves when Little is on the beach with Juan makes for a good background noise. Throughout the film, the music that accompanies the visuals, pair well and give a scene more quality than if they were to not have music at all. For example, there is a scene where Little’s mother got her fix on drugs and proceeds to yell at Little, but although the scene is inaudible, the music in the background pairs well with it. At the beginning of the movie the lighting seems to be gloomy as it introduces the character, Little and his struggles, but switches up to a lighter tone when he somewhat gets a happy ending by reuniting with a character he once had a crush on. The ending scene was interesting as it was Little as a child, like when he was at the beginning of the film, looking back at the camera on a beach where he first learned that he had to decided who he wanted to become and not let others decide for him.
The movie I chose to analyze was Moonlight. Within the first few minutes of the film, a viewer can recognize that the movie is taking place in the past. The old cars in the background and the outfits that the characters are wearing, give it away. Each character has a personality with how they speak and the movement of the camera as it goes around a character while they are interacting with another character makes the film interesting to watch. When the character, Little, was fighting his friend to prove he wasn’t “soft,” the camera was shaking, giving the viewer a feeling that they were part of the tussling that the two boys were having. I personally liked the scene where Little is being taught to swim by another character, Juan, and the water hits the camera and continues to do so as they stay in the water. The first person interaction between Little and his mother when he is a young adult is cool and a viewer could feel discomfort when the mother is begging Little for money to buy drugs. The visuals of her being paler and acting jittery add to the scene. A viewer is able to see the pain in Little’s eyes as he goes through his struggles. Another visual that seemed to work well is when they made Little act different from the rest of the children as a child and later in the film it is revealed why he acts so different. The transitions from scene to scene are well executed as a viewer does not get lost in between them. For example, the transition from Little as a child to him as a young adult was done well, and the actor choice in picking him as a kid and him as a young adult was done well because the two actors have similar facial features to one another. It adds to the great visual elements that a presented throughout the film. It was a nice scene to add when Little is beaten up for being a homosexual, but then it transitions to him being in front of a Mirror becoming stronger than he was before and standing up to the bully that he was once scared of. After this scene, the transition from young adult to adult was meaningful because Little fell into the life that he did not want to be a part of. He went from disapproving Juan’s business in selling drugs and ended up doing the same. The sounds from a car engine roaring to windows shattering give a viewer more immersion while watching this film. Hearing the waves when Little is on the beach with Juan makes for a good background noise. Throughout the film, the music that accompanies the visuals, pair well and give a scene more quality than if they were to not have music at all. For example, there is a scene where Little’s mother got her fix on drugs and proceeds to yell at Little, but although the scene is inaudible, the music in the background pairs well with it. At the beginning of the movie the lighting seems to be gloomy as it introduces the character, Little and his struggles, but switches up to a lighter tone when he somewhat gets a happy ending by reuniting with a character he once had a crush on. The ending scene was interesting as it was Little as a child, like when he was at the beginning of the film, looking back at the camera on a beach where he first learned that he had to decided who he wanted to become and not let others decide for him.
Poster of Moonlight (the three phases of his life are depicted on the poster)
Nice work, Jean I like especially how you noted how the camera was shaking to illustrate the feelings of the narrator, and to create tension. You also noted an important quality of the film, which is the return in the end to the visual elements/time in the beginning. I like too that you include some thought about how sound (particularly music) impacts the atmopshere.
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