A Stunning Film like "Moonlight" Doesn't Come Around that Often

"Moonlight" is one of those rare films that shines a light on life's brutal realities with such elegance it deserves to be called majestic.  This is a coming of age story which reaches beyond a single genre label.  Chiron, a kid growing up in an impoverish South Florida town.  Chrion is always cast as an outsider.  He's bullied or banished by the other black youths in the hood, except for one friend, Kevin.  Kevin befriends Chiron and tries to coach him on how to act so as not to be shunned.  "Don't be soft," Kevin tells him and Chiron tackles him and the two tussle good heartedly on the ground.  I have to draw parallels with another excellent film that is currently showing; the French film "17."  Both movies have  frenemies who become lovers knowing there is a sexual tension building between the young men.  "Moonlight" casts the movie as a triptych with Chrion at 10, again as a h.s. student & then as a virile, 20 something, drug dealer sporting gold grillz.  The film's cinematography casts the movie with an effervescent sheen which doesn't shield the alarming brutalities & struggles in society.  Chiron is an only child of a single mother whose a crack addict.  Constantly being chased & harassed by the other kids, Chiron finds a protector, father-figure in his mom's drug dealer.  The cyclical, pervasive problems of addiction, poverty, bullying, neglect & incarceration are credibly shown in their harsh light.  Nonetheless, there are powerful moments of raw & tender emotions that beam throughout this work of art.  "Moonlight" speaks to the deepest reaches of the human soul.  "At some point you have to decide who you are gonna be."  Chiron's choices are not always wise but we see everything through his sad & knowing eyes.