On the gravel-covered beach, black boys played chase games with the waves that washed back and forth. At this time, the sun has not yet set, and under the morning light, he is dark.
There is no doubt that Moonlight is the story of a man bound by his past. The past here is the moaning mother in the pink-lit room, the punches and kicks that land on her, and the boy beside her on the beach. Some children who grew up in black neighborhoods have walked out of the slums and become new social elites, completely throwing away the shadows of the past; others, like the protagonist "Kino" in this film, are influenced by external and internal factors , and in the end, he could not completely get rid of that past. The controlling thought is simple, that if a person can't get rid of his memories, he will be as blue as a black boy in the moonlight, but this is only its external meaning, and its internal meaning should be a never-ending A boy who grows up will only put on the disguise of an adult for himself when he reaches a certain age, and there will be no substantial change in his heart.
During the viewing process, the audience can easily notice that the film uses a lot of pan and reverse shots. The function of the panning lens can connect the characters appearing in the picture together. Here the director should want to emphasize the intimacy of the two people. From the surface motive, the panning lens can also avoid montage, and at the same time show one person's point of view and audience's interest. The pros and cons in the film not only appear in the character dialogue, but also appear silently when the two are speechless. Functionally, this is similar to the "intimacy" mentioned above, and the motivation is the same as the usual Hollywood movies.
The beach, as a formal motif in the film, is a symbol of "care". The broad mind of the sea brought almost everyone on the beach, including Chino. The first time at the beach was Juan, like Father Figure, who held the boy up and said he was "the center of the world"; the second time was with his friend and lover Kevin, who kissed and had sex by the beach . And the beach is also the externalization of "freedom", the only way to escape from the mess, but unfortunately, it also hinders the pace of growth.
The screenwriter compares the two character elements of Chino and Kevin with each other, for the purpose of preaching, the long dialogue at the end and the key image and emotional catharsis of "The Boy in the Moonlight". As a typical good lamb in his childhood, Chino seems to be synonymous with obedience, but as an adult he appears on the screen as a rebellious figure, although he will soon drop his camouflage in front of the audience; As a slightly rebellious "normal person" in his childhood, Wen became an office worker and a chef in a small restaurant when he became an adult. He was normal, but inactive. Kevin ditched the past for a few years, and Chino was stuck with it. The difference between the elements is here, and the contrast is also here.
Style development is extremely dynamic in the film, with aggressive follow-through shots interspersed with static fixation and panning, while tones and lighting are erratic in order to create dramatic contrasts. But the narrative elements are partly "static", both in terms of character arcs and emotional tone. Chino didn't grow, and his mood didn't improve after the release.
In terms of uniformity, the film is generally in line with the level that an awards season film should be. At the same time, the director also omitted Juan's death to create disunity, creating a poetic blank in the film, focusing more on Chino. But overall, it's still a normal big plot narrative.
And the black boy in the moonlight has let the blue ideology shroud the entire American culture.
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