MovieChat Forums > Moonlight (2016) Discussion > Amazing film. Only one (super minor) irk...

Amazing film. Only one (super minor) irk:

posted 8 years ago by ewr-25033
50 replies | jump to latest

So, the three versions of the main character exist: Little, Chiron, and Black. Each of the individual chapters and performances stands alone and fits together brilliantly, and the performances were fantastic. My one irk, however, was that I just don't see that Chiron could have evolved into Black. I don't see how a lanky, slumped over, person like Chiron was in the middle chapter could physically transform into the way Black looked in the final porton of the film. I could see Little turning into either of the succeeding two chapters, but I had a hard time suspending disbelief for the second into the third. But, really, outside of that, the film was so affecting, so moving, and so well made (the constant repetition of the camera following behind the lead character's walk was a phenomenal touch) that it made it easy to look past what I thought was just a bit of inconsistency.

[–] blindvias-071407 8 years ago

They showed him lifting weights and doing push ups non stop. Guess that is how he built up his musculature.

[–] BabyClyde 8 years ago

I thought exactly the same thing. The first 2 actors have similar looks but the third is totally miscast. Lifting weights don't change someone's face.

He went from Mo Farah to 50 Cent. Great performances but terrible casting.

[–] LotusPhoenix 8 years ago

Yes, this was the only issue I had with the film. I thought the same thing with Kevin, something about Andre Holland didn't match the first two actors but they all gave great performances. It's even more odd because I'm imagining only like 5 years passed between chapter 2 & 3.

Formerly "BrooklynFoxx"

[–] sororsalsa 8 years ago

In the restaurant, Kevin mentioned that he hadn't seen Chiron in 10 years, so it wasn't just 5 years.

[–] wrdsmth 8 years ago

It was almost 10 years according to Kevin. And I think the casting was not only to reflect how Little had evolved into Black. But to also so how his physicality reminded the viewer of the drug dealer that took him in and that he grew to emulate.

[–] laura9819 8 years ago

Ok, you do realize the director used three totally different actors to play one character right? and that by the time the audience is reintroduced to Black ten years had passed, and yes, one can transform their body and still maintain the same face like most people have done in the "real" world.

[–] diavolo_gunaika 8 years ago

I'm pretty sure everyone realizes it was 3 different actors. LOL However, I am curious as to why the sarcasm?

You would have been taken more seriously had you written "by the time the audience is reintroduced to Black ten years had passed, one can transform their body and still maintain the same face like most people have done in the real world."

Just saying...

Critics are good when it is reasonable but it becomes absurd when people do it for fun or jealousy.

[–] StellarSpire 8 years ago

You must not know too many men who work out habitually then because this is what happens when most put on muscle.. Just a simple google search will reveal that several skinny dudes have matured into thick muscly men. It was about 10 years in-between, making his body type very possible and perhaps even likely since he was in juvie for years.

[–] lisac_2829 8 years ago

So true. The whole time I was watching him all I saw was 50 cent. If there is a movie they need to do on 50 cent...he will be perfect.

[–] mmcolunga 8 years ago

Think how much power Chiron felt when he took the chair to the guys head. It may have actually been the most empowering, triumphant, and self defining thing he had ever done in his entire life. We don't get to see it but i imagine he used that brutality very often in the next few years of his life. It may have been his only connection to feeling strong and in control. He already had the urge to start working out. After that - being sent to Juvenile Detention - Im sure he kept the violent tendencies and the work out regiment.

The thing I didn't get was that he told Kevin that he hadn't been with ANYONE else at all. That I found hard to believe.

[–] ewr-25033 8 years ago

Totally. I totally get that he would become the kind of person that he became—character wise. 100% buy it. No questioning here. Was just saying that physically I didn't see any way that hunched over, lanky Chiron would become broad shouldered, perfect postured Black. Regardless of muscle-build.

[–] bababear 8 years ago

ewr-25033, my first year of teaching I saw a young lady who literally transformed into another person overnight. This girl was a misfit, screechy voice, ill groomed, classmates called her "the parrot" because of the way she talked. One day a classmate in Chemistry was picking on her and shoved her, and the teacher got up in his face because you should never push a lady. She took his words to heart. I literally didn't recognize her the next day and asked coworkers who the new student was. She was taller, perfect posture, hair and make up perfect, clothes clean and pressed. A change in a person's self image can make a huge difference in their physical appearance. And when she graduated a few months later, which was the last time I saw her, she was still the "new" person.

[–] Badlands1 8 years ago

I agree 100% the final "black" was miscast, his face did not look anything like the former two, I understand he did jail and trappin' etc..

Perhaps if they gave a few minutes of happened to him in jail/prison it would flow better.

But I just couldn't buy he was the same person, let alone gay. It was cringe worthy seeing that ultra heterosexual famous male actor trying to play an adult gay male.. His lover did well in all his three roles though.

[–] andreas-amorin 8 years ago

Actually there where hints of Chiron eating a lot all through the movie. You just need a couple of years of training and have a calorie surplus to gain seriuos muscle mass. A few people mentioned that it wouldn't change the face. That is wrong. First, you will also gain weight in the face and second between the scene at the school and the first secene in the thrid act were at least 10 years. In addition, he doesn't really have a social life and he maybe used some form of steroids. All in all it is a great way of showing that a tough exterior doesn't say anything about the interioir.

"that hunched over, lanky Chiron would become broad shouldered, perfect postured Black. Regardless of muscle-build."

Here is the part that I most loved about the movie and the acting in it. Watch it again and pay attention to Black's posture, eyes and way of speaking, etc when he is around the members in his crew (who only know the new Black) vs when he meets his mother or Kev. When he meets the people from his past he suddenly is Chiron again. Kevin even mentions this when Black is in the Cafe.

I could see Chrion in Black all through the last episode.

[–] PrivateBozz (156) 8 years ago

---Here is the part that I most loved about the movie and the acting in it. Watch it again and pay attention to Black's posture, eyes and way of speaking, etc when he is around the members in his crew (who only know the new Black) vs when he meets his mother or Kev. When he meets the people from his past he suddenly is Chiron again. Kevin even mentions this when Black is in the Cafe.
I could see Chrion in Black all through the last episode. ---

I agree completely, it was stunning.

[–] rpanzar 8 years ago

I can see why he would never be with anyone else. He entered the drug life, it's not exactly accepting of a gay lifestyle.

[–] Gayeavec 8 years ago

From what I've heard of prison, even juvie, I also find that hard to believe. Even perfectly straight males when denied female companionship tend to engage in same sex relationships while in confinement either voluntarily or forcibly.

[–] dan456-1 8 years ago

In every interview I've watched with director Barry Jenkins he has repeated that he knows the actors don't look much alike, but that wasn't his focus. The most important thing for him was that they have the same "spirituality" in their eyes. Also, one theme of the movie is that external circumstances can turn a person into someone else completely, so Jenkins wanted the changes to be jarring.

I was also put off by Rhodes' appearance as Black initially, but I have to say over the course of the diner scene I did come to see that same person in his eyes that I saw in teen-aged Chiron. It was amazing and eerie.

[–] willandthomas-picturehou 8 years ago

I loved that they look differently but were the same.
The acting so beautiful reminded me of the Martin Donovan sessions. Traveling emotionally just with the eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgBprfzP_kk

[–] sylvia120 8 years ago

I saw the movie yesterday and was tense with sadness for Little/Chiron/Black for some time. My seatmate felt Black looked too different, but I saw the same vulnerable, almost pleading neediness in his eyes as he had had from the beginning. I thought back to some of the greatness of "The Wire" when I saw this film.

[–] sntierney 8 years ago

I agree. The actor looked different facially, but he conveyed the quietness, fear, vulnerability, guardedness really well.

[–] bastille-852-731547 8 years ago

I noticed that a little bit, but I didn't let that distract from my views on the film.

[–] DJWinston 8 years ago

Of course it shouldn't distract. The director has stated that he refused to even let the three actors playing Chiron meet each other. He wanted them each to bring their own qualities to that period of the story. Casting was everything.

To ask for the three different-aged Chirons to act alike, or even to look alike, in a film of this hazy and delicate texture is being much too literal, and missing the point entirely. You've got a through line that deals with the heart and soul, not facial features, walks, or voice qualities.

[–] b-touch 8 years ago

Ten years spent in and out of jail, working out of the streets, and purposefully trying to rebuild oneself after tragedy?

Shape of head aside, Chiron putting on all of that weight and affecting a new way of moving and acting isn't that unrealistic at all.

[–] bdwy_babe 8 years ago

Yes agree, Black is not the same build or look as Little or Chiron but all of that totally went out of my mind at the scene at the end with them just looking at each other .. what a totally riveting moment! The acting of all three was brilliant. Also what blew me away at the end was Brad Pitt being and Ex Producer.

I would like to see this up for a few awards in the coming months as Award Season is in sight.

[–] Irishmonk 8 years ago

For Brad Pitt I guess that's better than being an ex-husband.

[–] natecarroll-51513 8 years ago

Him and Jennifer Aniston own the production company that heled produce it

[–] chancesellers 8 years ago

I agree.

[–] Allenism 8 years ago

I think the physical disparity between teenage Kevin and adult Kevin distracted me the most. Like, they don't even look like they're from the same family. Both actors did a good job with the character (especially Holland), so I can't begrudge Jenkins for casting them, but I can't also deny that the disconnect took me out of the film a bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opcKTe7ePgk 