boyhood: who are you?
moonlight: i'm you but stronger in every possible way

MOONLIGHT is *MAGNIFICENT.* a specific but utterly symphonic portrait of masculinity in the modern world. every shot is seared into my brain. it's also a devastatingly beautiful love story. to put it in the most reductive / tantalizing terms possible, think CAROL by way of Frank Ocean.

most likely the best film of 2016 so far.

The hype has never, ever, ever been so real. And the best birthday present that I ever could have asked for. A marvel -- a modern masterwork of unadulterated understanding. Understanding of isolation, of idiosyncrasies; understanding of care, of compassion; understanding of darkness & disparities, of spectrums, of sexuality; understanding of memories & maliciousness, of (forced) numbness, of nostalgia; understanding of catharsis. Catharsis. The third act of this film is nothing short of the purest shaping and structuring of cathartic cinema. One of, if not the finest sophomore feature of the last half-decade. A miracle of a film... an experience which we are blessed to have exist in our current, rapturously unsympathetic reality.

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

I'm not sure we as a society deserve a movie as empathetic and open-hearted as Moonlight right now, but I'm grateful it exists.

Finally got round to seeing it! Took a while. Exceptional performances from the three leads as well as the supporting cast adds an emotional impact to some solid scenes. It's weighty but heartfelt and it's pulled off brilliantly. Act I was the shining light for me, especially the final scene, and it's easy to see why this won so many awards. A top piece of film making.

I was feeling grumpy and sad all day, but this movie like healed my soul. A masterpiece. I honestly still can't believe something this kind and beautiful and filled with love exists in the world.

So beautiful, so heartbreaking. Absolutely holds up on a rewatch.

The movie made it finally to iTunes (Germany) so that I could watch it its original.

Vibrant & heart-felt, offers no easy answers or clear allegiances. All actors that play Chiron are really good.

(only the lack of depth of focus in the some scenes drove me nuts)

After all the praise and having been looking forward to seeing it since missing it at the cinema, I think I was expecting something more groundbreaking from Moonlight. What I got was pretty straightforward but beautifully told and subtly acted.

Normally movies with shy repressed main characters frustrate me. Speaking as a shy and repressed person myself. When I watch a movie I can't stand conflicts that hinge on people not being able to just say what they feel.

Moonlight turns that on its head. A movie that is shot so intimately, and does such a good job at portraying naked vulnerability, that each downcast gaze and every sigh communicates multitudes. Add to that cinematography that could make you cry, a brilliant cast (the three leads portraying Chiron are so seamlessly alike it tricks me into thinking i'm watching a Boyhood-type filmatic experiment), and a tender queer coming of age story makes this one hell of a movie.

A different kind of character portrait. The performances were all incredibly stunning and were the reason - I think - it had an edge on the fantastical La La Land at the Oscars.

The first two parts hit home pretty hard for me, most of it. The last part was completely unrelatable but was powerful nonetheless. It's a true art to be able to tell so much by saying so little.