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.

not sure how this is award nomination material. Decent story, but not outstanding. characters, actors, and settings were fine, but didn't exactly bowl me over. It does end up leaving you sad on multiple levels.

Very pretty movie full of very pretty people

Don't know how it took this long to catch up with this. Even with all the hype this film still surprised me. It's a smaller story than I had pictured and that's a very good thing. It's a real character study of how identity is formed and influenced through experiences the reactions we have to those experiences one way or another. I'll be listening to the sound track for a while it matches the visuals so well that you can relive the film just by listening.

"Chiron?"
*and then closeup shots*

Y U BREAKIN ME LIEK THIS MAN?

When I started watching it, I thought it was good, maybe even great. But it wasn’t anything remarkable. But then the third act starts, and when Chiron meets Kevin, and Chiron reverts back to his scared, trouble self, and at the end, he finally says something honest, something vulnerable. And it felt so cathartic. I cried for about half an hour afterwards. It such a personal, intimate movie, that I’m surprised it won Best Picture. But I think this one will last.

Also, kudos for the Academy for awarding Mahershala Ali. Most acting awards go to ACTING!, but Ali was so quiet and simple, and he meant so well, but the irony that he's part of Chiron's problems felt like a knife between the ribs.

I am very disappointed about this movie ((. I didn’t get the whole “Oscar” thing about it, but this is not so important, considering that I also have read a lot of good stuff about it before, and these were reviews from people whose opinions were kinda significant for me.
Alas, the movie looks very primitive and trivial, and watching it was extremely boring and awkward. No single “thought,” just nothing.

Great film, some great acting and the use of sound with the score is brilliant throughout.
Cisually pops too. See why it received the praise it did.

this shit is breathtaking

A well made film, but probably nabbed the award as much for the politically correct agendas of the time. But though it's a slow burn, and the direction is hard to figure out, it is still beautiful to look at.