Life Through the Prism of ‘Moonlight’

Moonlight is made of silence. I should say Moonlight is made from silence, its characters the product of a world where much is known but never spoken. The silence in Moonlight is what propels it forward, featuring fable-like cinematography (by James Laxton) and showcasing some of the best acting any of us will encounter. What I love most about this Barry Jenkins film adapted from a play by Tarrell McCraney is that its silence does for it what art must do in order to be art. In its quietest moments, the film asks us to participate, to make conjectures about its story and then to question why we came to such conclusions. But I should start with the bad news… I’ve seen Moonlight four times, though I’m not sure that I should count the first time since I watched almost every scene through tears. I cried at various points all the other times too, but at least I was prepared to pay a closer attention through my blurred vision. My major problem with the film isn’t a problem with the film at all. The trouble with having seen something I believe everyone else should experience, the trouble with attempting to write about it, is that it’s hard to get people to go see a movie when you can’t narrow what it’s “about.” For instance, it seems important to some to characterize it as a gay movie or even to say that its main character is struggling with the fact that he’s gay. Image via IMDb

While I myself am most definitely gay, I don’t have any criteria for deciding that someone else is (or i…