Black. Strike one.
Poor. Strike two.
Gay. Strike three?
Of course conservatives are generally of the opinion that none of this stuff really matters. However shitty your upbringing might have been, and however dire your circumstances, it ever and always revolves around “individual responsibility”. If you make the wrong choices it is because you and only you fucked up. And [thus] the very last thing “the government” should be concerned with is taking all of that into consideration. Let alone exploring the political parameters that revolve around the extent to which the government may or may not have been involved in creating the conditions where “stuff like this” becomes literally a way of life for thousands upon thousands of residents in Chiron’s world.
The reality of course is always going to be a complex intertwining of “I” and “we” and “them”. This is just one particular trajectory. And it may or may not be applicable to any other. After all, how many of us were born and raised in Liberty City.
The Miami Vice rendition.
Imagine then “coming of age” in this particular neighborhood, and coming to embody this particular frame of mind. So, meet Little, Chiron and Black. A natural progression as it were.
Yes, movies like this come down the pike all the time. You’re thinking that each one will be effective in closing the gap between prejudice and understanding. And for some it does. But then the conditions that created these narratives really don’t change much at all. In other words, there was Liberty City before Obama was elected and Liberty City after he was gone. Of course that part isn’t in the script at all. Unless it’s all just supposed to be understood.
So expect even more movies like this one to come our way.
You don’t even know.
faq imdb: imdb.com/title/tt4975722/tri … =ttqu_sa_1
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_(2016_film
trailer: youtu.be/9NJj12tJzqc
IMDb
[b]When Juan teaches Little how to swim, Mahershala Ali is really teaching Alex R. Hibbert how to swim. When production started, Hibbert did not know how to swim.
In an interview, Barry Jenkins said that the three actors who play Chiron never met during production. He wanted each of them to build their own persona of Chiron during their respective segments, with no influence from the other portrayals. The same technique was used with the actors who play Kevin.
Both director Barry Jenkins and writer Tarell Alvin McCraney’s vision was pretty clear and singular in that both men grew up in the same Liberty City neighborhood of Miami with mothers who had both struggled with drug addiction. Roughly 80% of the film was shot on location here, one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the United States. Initially the production was apprehensive about safety issues until the word got out that Jenkins was from the neighborhood - then everything changed for the better. The locals couldn’t have been more welcoming and cooperative. Naomie Harris has said that she’d never felt so appreciated and at ease on a film set during the shoot.
Such were the budgetary constraints on this production, the cast had to share one trailer for costume, hair and makeup and one rest room stall had to be shared by cast and crew.
An early meeting with Brad Pitt helped director Barry Jenkins get the necessary funds and distribution deal he required.
When first approached, Naomie Harris was very reluctant to play a crack addict since it was so alien to her teetotaling persona. Harris had been insistent from the start on a career plan to only portray women in a positive light. However, when Barry Jenkins confided to her that she’d be portraying a character based on his own crack-addicted mother, she agreed to take on the role. In preparation for the part she spent a month researching the lives of drug addicts by watching several videos of crack addicts on YouTube. [/b]
MOONLIGHT [2016]
Written and directed by Barry Jenkins
[b]Juan: Business good?
Terrence: Business good. Everybody cleaned out, it’s in the cut if you want it.
…
Juan [to Teresa]: I found this boy in a dope spot. Wasn’t no crackheads there. Just him alone. He ain’t talkin’ though, so why don’t you see if you can get him to say something.
…
Kevin: All you gotta do is show these niggas you ain’t soft.
Chiron [as a boy]: But I ain’t soft.
Kevin: I know, I know. But it don’t mean nothing if they don’t know.
…
Juan [to Chiron as a boy]: Ok. Let your head rest in my hand. Relax. I got you. I promise. I won’t let you go. Hey man. I got you. There you go. Ten Seconds. Right there. You in the middle of the world.
…
Juan [to Chiron as a boy]: Let me tell you something, man…there are black people everywhere. Remember that, okay? Ain’t no place in the world you can go without black people. We’s the first on this planet. I’ve been here a long time. Out of Cuba. A lot of black folks are Cuban. You wouldn’t know from being here now. I was a wild little shortie, man. Just like you. Running around with no shoes on, the moon was out. This one time, I run by this old…this old lady. I was running, howling. Kinda of a fool, boy. This old lady, she stopped me. She said…"Running around, catching a lot of light. In moonlight, black boys look blue. You’re blue. That’s what I’m gonna call you: ‘Blue’.
Little: So your name ‘Blue’?
Juan [laughing] Nah.
[pause]
Juan: At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you’re going to be. Can’t let nobody make that decision for you.
…
Paula: What, so you gonna raise my son, now? Huh? You gon’ raise my son?
[Juan says nothing]
Paula: Yeah…that’s what I thought.
Juan: You gon’ raise him?
Paula: You gonna keep sellin’ me rocks? Huh?..Motherfucker. Don’t give me that, “you gotta get it from somewhere”, shit, nigga. I’m gettin it from you! But you gonna raise my son, right? Hmm?..You ever see the way he walk?
Juan: You watch your damn mouth.
Paula: You’re gonna tell him why the other boys kick his ass all the time? Huh? You gonna tell him?
…
Juan: I saw your mama last night.
Chiron: I hate her.
Juan: Yeah, I bet you do.
[pause]
Juan: Hated mine too.
[pause]
Juan: Miss her like hell now. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.
…
Chiron [innocently]: What’s a faggot?
Juan: A faggot is…a word used to make gay people feel bad.
Chiron: Am I a faggot?
Juan: No. You’re not a faggot. You can be gay, but you don’t have to let nobody call you a faggot.
…
Chiron: Do you sell drugs?
Juan [after a long pause]: Yeah.
Chiron: And my momma, she do drugs, right?
Juan [after a long pause]: Yeah.
[Chiron gets up from the table and leaves. He never sees Juan again]
…
Teresa: What’s wrong?
Chiron [now in high school]: Nothing. I’m good.
Teresa: No. I done seen good, and you ain’t it.
…
Paula: I need some money.
Chiron: For what?
Paula: That’s my business! Don’t you ask me no shit like that!
Chiron [mumbling]: I don’t have any money.
Paula: No, no, don’t lie to me boy! I’m your mama! That bitch over there ain’t no kin yeah? I’m your blood! Remember? I ain’t feeling good. I need something to help me out.
…
Kevin: What you cry about?
Chiron: Shit, I cry so much, sometimes I feel like I’m just gonna turn into drops.
Kevin: But you just roll out into the water, right? Roll out into the water just like all these other motherfuckers trying to drown their sorrow.
…
Terrell [pointing to Chiron]: Yo, Kev. Hit that nigga. Hit that nigga, Kev. Yeah, hit his faggot ass!
…
Paula [to Chiron, now a man]: I messed up. I fucked it all the way up. I know that. But your heart ain’t got to be black, like mine, baby…I love you, Chiron. I love you, baby. I mean you ain’t got to love me. Lord knows I did not have love for you when you needed it, I know that. So you ain’t gotta love me. But you gon’ know that I love you.
…
Kevin: Hey, these grandma rules, man. You know the deal. Your ass eat, your ass speak.
Chiron: All right…straight up?
Kevin: Yeah, nigga, straight up.
Chiron: I’m trappin’.
…
Kevin: Who is you man?
Chiron: Who, me?
Kevin: Yeah nigga. You. Them fronts? That car? Who is you Chiron?
Chiron: I’m me man. Ain’t trying to be nothing else.
Kevin: So you hard now?
Chiron: I ain’t say that.
Kevin: Then what?
[pause]
Kevin: Look. I’m not trying hem you up. Just… I ain’t seen you in a minute. Not what I expected, none of it. Not good or bad. Just not what I expected.
Chiron: Well, what did you expect?
[pause]
Kevin: You remember the last time I saw you?
[pause]
Chiron: For a long time, tried not to remember. Tried to forget all those times. The good… the bad. All of it.
[pause]
Kevin: Yeah…
…
Kevin: I wasn’t never worth shit. Just kept going on, man. Never did anything I actually wanted to do, was all I could do to do what other folks thought I should do. I wasn’t never really myself.
Chiron: And now?
…
Chiron: You the only man that ever touched me. You’re the only one.
[pause]
Chiron: I haven’t really touched anyone since. [/b]