Welcome to our first Film Frame Friday. I decided to choose not only one of the best films of this decade but a film I personally loved.

 

Moonlightdirected by Barry Jenkins, reached critical acclaim to the point of winning  Best Picture at the Oscars, but what makes this film special is the beautiful cinematic style. A native of Miami, Florida, Jenkins used his home city’s unique lighting and whether to bring serenity to his film.

The use of water and the natural hues of blue give Moonlight a serenity unlike any other.

Moonlight

One thing I noticed upon watching this film twice is how Jenkin was influenced by Wong Kar-wai and Edward Yang. The use of up-close face shots, conservative tampering with the natural environment, and letting two characters have an intimate dialog without little distractions. The way Barry Jenkins films the youth in this film can be compared to YI YI or A Brighter Summer Day.  For example, Jenkins and Yang both frame their main character with a sense of loneliness. Even when they share scenes with other characters there is a sense of sadness and even alienation.

MV5BNjU3ODIwNzItYjNkMS00NjI0LTk1MmYtOWI3MzI5ZTZlYzY2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjQ2MjQ5NzM@._V1_.jpg
YI YI directed by Edward Yang
thumbnail_25138.jpg
Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins

Moonlight is not the first nor last film to do this, but the style is so strong it demands attention. Letting the scene play out by itself without trying to change the environment provides stellar shots. Smoking a cigarette, eating food, or even driving in a car is such a mundane thing; yet all these directors make it look like the coolest thing ever.

tumblr_ox0yn6XhKq1qc3ju8o3_540
A Brighter Summer day directed by Edward Yang
InJ.gif
Moonlight

 

tumblr_nit0x055pm1qzqnxxo1_500.gif
In the Mood for Love directed by Wong Kar-wai
giphy.gif
Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins

The dialog between characters is shot in a natural way, focusing even the smallest of details.

 

Moodpic4.jpg
In the Mood for Love
maxresdefault (3).jpg
Moonlight

 

tumblr_ox0yn6XhKq1qc3ju8o7_r1_540 (1).gif
A Brighter Summer Day directed by Edward Yang

 

giphy (1).gif
Moonlight
XWg7.gif
Happy Together directed by Wong Kar-wai
tumblr_inline_omkm3wGhAm1sj0r4d_500.gif
Moonlight

The similarities between the directors and films are one of the reasons why I love Moonlight so much, and why I praise the scenes. I highly encourage you to watch these films and see if you can spot not only the likeness but what makes them visually appealing.

 

If you would like to submit an article for our next Film Frame Friday, contribute to Filmera, or just talk about films in a chill environment visit our Discord of more than 300 members at Filmera Community Discord.

Written by Carl Broughton

Founder and Business Manager of FilmEra I am a Florida native who decided to stop reading reviews and start writing them instead. Follow me on my journey Twitter @Carlislegendary email: ccbroughton4@gmail.com

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s