MOONLIGHT (B+) - Chiron is growing up black and gay in Miami, with a single drug-addicted mother -- more than a couple of strikes against him -- and we will follow him to adulthood and find out in the present day whether or how he overcomes such obstacles.
When we first meet him (as played by Alex Hibbert), Chiron (rhymes with Tyrone) is tagged with the nickname Little and is chased by bullies into an abandoned motel. He is rescued by Juan (Mahershala Ali, "Free State of Jones," "House of Cards"), a crack dealer who, perhaps out of guilt for keeping Chiron's mom hooked, informally adopts the boy, inviting him home for dinners and sleepovers in the warm domesticity created by Juan and his angelic girlfriend, Teresa (the riveting Jonelle Monae).
Chiron's other connection is with his best pal Kevin (played as child and teen by Jaden Piner and Jharrel Jerome). As a teen, Chiron (now played by Ashton Sanders, channeling a bit of Keith Stanfield in "Short Term 12") is gangly and socially awkward. He and Kevin eventually share a moment of intimacy at the beach, but Kevin later betrays his friend on the playground by carrying out the orders of a bully and slugging Chiron rather than lose face in front of the whole school. When Chiron exacts revenge on the bully, he is hauled off to juvenile detention.
Cut to the present, and Chiron (Trevante Rhodes) is a muscular, hardened ex-con who goes by the nickname Black, wears a gold grille over his teeth and deals drugs in the Atlanta area. A phone message out of the blue from Kevin (Andre Holland) lures Chiron back to Miami and to the diner that Kevin runs. It is here that "Moonlight" finally coheres, with the first true, in-depth interaction between two characters.
Until that point, the triptych structure of the film -- with different actors portraying Chiron and Kevin -- disrupts the rhythm of the narrative and gets in the way of the viewer's connection to the characters. Writer-director Barry Jenkins (in his second film since 2008's "Medicine for Melancholy") mostly overcomes those logistical hurdles, although one major drawback is the lack of attention paid to Chiron's mother and to Teresa, who come off as two-dimensional representations of the neglectful and comforting nurturers that have shaped the boy into the man. Juan is a benighted street hood who disappears by the middle of the film.
If you have the patience for the long set-up, the payoff between Rhodes and Holland as old childhood friends reconnecting on a mature level is worth the wait. Kevin is assured and jaded -- he knocked up a high school classmate back in the day but is on his own now -- and he seems to have some direction to his life. Chiron is all bulk and empty swagger, a calloused shell protecting the frightened, feral little boy inside.
When Kevin sits him down, feeds him and smiles across the table, it feels like the first act of true tenderness that Chiron has ever experienced. When Chiron returns the kindness with a deeply personal confession, the humanity of this movie finally flourishes, and it's glorious.
BONUS TRACKS
A key scene, involving the reunion of two characters, plays out to this dusty from Barbara Lewis, "Hello, Stranger":
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