A genuinely shallow movie, about one shot that actually made an impression. Seems like the pilot for a t.v. show and incomplete.

Moonlight is considered a pretty big movie in the movie scene; winning prizes such as Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role among two hundred other awards. Winning three oscars isn't an easy feat, and I congratulate the movie and it's makers for reaching such an amazing feat. But truth to be told? It does not deserve it.The movie starts strongly, with amazing acting produced by Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris, but decays afterwards into what can be simply categorized as overrated. The first period of the whole movie (of three total) is superb, acting-wise, visually, and in terms of writing and dialogue, but then it is replaced by uneeded timeskips that could have been used to make the movie far more thrilling and deserving of the oscars. There were plenty of situations and times when acting could've done the job, but it was always kicked in it's teeth by a timeskip, equally boring was the writing, portraying unfortunately an awesome concept but still ultimately leaving you with nothing in the end. Yes, it is black people. Yes, it is homosexual people. But so what? These two automatically do not push anything into a good movie.The middle and end section of the movie goes through so flawlessly, with minimal conflict and little chance for the actors to shine in the drama genre. The ending, what could've been amazing, intense situation - is instead shrunk into a twilight-romance that just doesn't cut it for three oscars. If you've seen the movie, you must see it; there's just no way the ending is so simple as it is portrayed. Why was there no explanation or delving further into the adult protagonist? He was an empty shell, and not because the story wanted it that way - but because the story didn't ever produce anything to make us feel we ever needed, or wanted, the end that we got.Visually however: a masterpiece. The colours are not only flawless and the angles and beautiful scenery pushes this movie from complete garbage (again, aside from the beginning), to an acceptable movie. The colours specifically root into your memory, with specific colours and specific designs on character's clothes making you easily interpret who they are and understand the scenes with masterful ease.It's a shame that with such a badass, thought-provoking concept, the beautiful colours, and the awesome introduction, the rest of the movie became lackluster and in the end, overrated.

I gave this five simply to be neutral but I liked much more than that. I don't give a rats about the Oscar. The obvious undercurrent of racism & and homophobia in the poor reviews is a bit unnerving. They seem to cover it with some comment about the slow pace or quality of the story, acting or dialogue. Film is art asome folks just don't get it. Better to admit that than falsely call something rotten. This film was clearly well crafted in many ways. Maybe not a masterpiece but not crap either.

I have read a few of the very negative reviews. And I think I can understand, that everyone has a very different 'take' on the journey that is their life. So i'm only going to say that this movie moved 'me'. It is a story that I relate to in terms of the isolation that sometime happens to a life through being Gay (or perhaps many other reasons) it seems to me this movie told a simple story very well. We all search for an acceptable version (of ourselves) and we all search for connections with others so that we can recognize that we are human. I have no cultural connection to the setting (african American, drug use etc) of this story, but I found a true connection to the humanity of it.