Moonlight: 10 Most Memorable Quotes From The Film

Based on the semi-autobiographical unpublished play by Tarell Alvin McCraney, Moonlight emerged as one of the most beautiful films of 2016. The movie might be remembered for the time it was famously upstaged by La La Land when the film was mistakenly, but temporarily, awarded Best Picture in its place, devastatingly taking an important moment away from a film that highlighted diverse identities which so greatly deserved their moment of celebration.

If one has seen the film, however, it is this that will be remembered, as no academy blunder could overshadow such a stunning piece of work. Each character is delicately crafted, with their nuances perfectly executed under the direction of Barry Jenkins with the best actors that could have been chosen for the parts. It is a film of vivid imagery and few words, but the words that are said speak volumes.

10 What’s Down There?

Chiron, referred to as “Little” in this first segment of the film, is constantly seen with his head hung low, so much so that, when he sits at a table and holds his hands in front of him, he appears to close himself behind the walls of his arms. Juan points this out in a gentle way, asking what it’s in the world that he’s hiding in “down there.”

9 You Sell Drugs? My Mama, She Do Drugs?

Little begins to understand what’s going on around him in life. Up until this point, he knew that people picked on him, and he knew his mother was unreliable and hurtful, but never exactly why. On a rare occasion of speaking up, he uses his voice to ask Juan about his job and makes the tragic connection that Juan provides the very drugs that his mother struggles with.

8 Let Your Head Rest In My Hand. I Got You.

Juan takes Little swimming and urges him to trust him, holding his tiny body in the waves and directing him on how to float. The moment echoes several other moments in the film that involve Chiron being held, causing viewers to think about the different forms of holding and what it means.

7 Who You Gonna Be?

Juan uses his moments of spending time with Little to take him under his wing as opportunities to encourage little and impart in him a little more confidence. He imparts on Little that he has all the choice in who is going to be in the world and that he shouldn’t let anybody tell him who he is.

6 There Are Black People Everywhere. You Remember That, Okay? No Place You Can Go In The World Aint Black People.

The quote brings to mind the ubiquitousness of white people in America and in the world and draws attention to the reality that the world feels dominated by white people due to media representation and those who work to make people of color feel small. Juan counters this dominant perspective by reminding Little that he is one of a vast community of people.

5 Stop Putting Your Head Down In My House. You Know The Rule: It’s All Love And Pride In This House.

Teenaged Chiron demonstrates the same timid habits as his younger self. When he walks, he does so in a way that makes his body as slight and small as possible, as if apologizing for existing at all. When he sits at the table, as he does in this scene with Theresa, his head hangs so low one can’t see his face. Theresa reminds him to keep his chin up, trying to correct his default of shame.

4 I Cry So Much, Sometimes I Feel Like Imma Just Turn Into Drops.

Chiron sits on the beach with Kevin and opens up into the longest conversation that viewers have heard him have until this point.

Chiron lives life closed-up and mostly friendless, but, with Kevin sitting beside him, there is an ease and an openness that allows Chiron to allow himself more space to be somebody rather than try to shrink away from the moment and disappear.

3 You Ain’t Got To Love Me, But You Gonna Know That I Love You

Chiron, now referred to as “Black,” sits with the mother who was never there for him growing up. She is off of drugs now and more lucid, but Chiron’s hesitation to take her seriously and allow himself to connect with her is clearly palpable on screen. She insists that Chiron sit and hear her out, going on to repeat that she loves him, exemplifying the difficult situation of a child being offered love after a life of betrayal.

2 I’m Me.

When Chiron meets up with Kevin, Kevin criticizes him for how he lives his life, reference him being a drug dealer who wears “fronts.” When Kevin asks him “who he is,” Chiron has nothing to say other than he is himself—and, although it’s a simple quote, it encompasses Chiron perfectly.

He isn’t anyone’s typical idea of a person, nor trying to be anything in particular. His appearance and way of life are honest in who he has become, and, rather than make associations about him, Kevin and the audience would do better to consider the parts of the whole and exactly who he is in that moment and why.

1 In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue

This line is derived from the original title of the book that the movie is based on and comes to viewers in the form of Juan telling Chiron a story about a woman seeing black boys running at night, and telling them that they aren’t black, but blue. The quote, amongst other things, suggests the possibility of dual-existence, or a transformation into a different identity than that which one is perceived as.

Throughout the film, the place Chiron is drawn to most is the ocean at night, where he can sit in the moonlight and seem as though he is somewhere—or somebody—else.