Moonlight

Abstract Moonlight’s opening sequence is analyzed in this chapter in the order of its two sections, the announcing of Juan and the announcing of Little, the latter subdivided into Little and the bullies and Little and Juan. Each section is structured as follows: summary, questions (for audience, for reader), commentary, and conclusion (incorporating information conveyed, emotion, visceral sensation, and vision). Screenshots and forensic commentary provide step-by-step critical insights into the art of the filmmaker, in regard to storytelling, flow of emotion, staging, shooting and editing, and address to the audience. The chapter considers both cinematic art in general and the filmmaker’s chosen discourse for his film, providing specific instances of his art related to universal principles. The analysis explores the introduction of Juan and the protagonist Little, following the former’s arrival and subsequent dealings as head of the local illicit drugs trade, which is contrasted with Little’s flight from bullies—from whom he takes refuge in an abandoned apartment used as a crack house, where Juan finds and rescues him. Camera, editing, articulation of narrative POV, and practical aesthetics are demonstrated as integral to emotion and story throughout. The screenplay and film are compared, and there follows consideration of the transition into the film’s first act or movement and its opening scene.