20 Best Movie Moments Of 2016

Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight might not boast the ground-breaking, filmed over a decade scale of Richard Linklater’s Boyhood but thanks to the seamless performances delivered by the three actors that portray its protagonist Chiron, it’s an even more affecting coming of age tale probably because a typical white suburban experience is swapped up for a touching story of a young African American man coming to terms with his sexuality.

The film visits Chiron during three distinct periods in his life: as a kid under his drug-addicted mother’s care, as a bullied teen and finally as a drug-dealing adult. It’s full of heartbreakingly honest moments, but one of its best takes place during the film’s final third when Chiron meets back up with an old school friend, Kevin, with whom he shared an intimate moment with years previously. Played out to the tune of Barbara Lewis’ ‘Hello Stranger’, it’s a scene that’s awkward but loaded with unspoken longing and vulnerability as the pair reunite after years of distance and change.