The Park Film Club met March 12 to watch and discuss Best Picture award winning  “Moonlight,” directed by Barry Jenkins.

According to senior Film Club president Amira Stone, the group gathered at a club member’s home and watched the film while enjoying snacks and discussing the movie.

Stone said she had seen the film before, and thought the plot was interesting.

“I loved the plot. It’s interesting because it’s not like most films in that there’s not really a climax or a major plot twist or anything, not much is actually going on, yet there’s a lot of substance there,” Stone said.

According to Stone, the movie was divided into three acts, and was about a gay black man named Chiron, who is trying to claim his identity. Stone said this is shown through three different stages in his life.

“It starts at “Little” and then it goes to “Chiron” and then “Black”, and to me a big part of the film is about Chiron kind of claiming his own identity,” Stone said. “And so that is a big part of what these main changes have to do with it in a sense of is he letting someone else label him, or is he labeling himself?”

Junior Benjamin Romain said he felt the topic of the movie shed light on an uncommon situation.

“I think it really sheds some light on a topic that’s not really talked about much in Hollywood and it really gives a look into what that’s like,” Romain said.

Senior Chloe O’Gara said she thought the characters were relatable.

“I think that even though it’s a very specific situation… that you think not that many people can relate to it, but actually you can kind of see yourself in the characters,” O’Gara said.

Romain said the characters seemed realistic.

“They were really diverse characters in the way they acted. They were really 3D and each one was really different from each other,” Romain said.

According to O’Gara, the soundtrack fit well with the movie, whether it was silent or music was playing.

“I think that the moment like is very well thought out… When the score is there, it’s just perfectly on with whatever event is happening,” O’Gara said. “So, I think it’s really good, and even just kind of the actual songs they picked to go in there, not the scoring, are also really good and kind of integral to the movie.”

O’Gara said “Moonlight” deserved to win best picture over “La La Land.”

“(“Moonlight” is) a better movie, like I think it’s better cinematography, I think it’s better directing and just like the screenplay I think is better,” O’Gara said.

Romain said he thought “Moonlight” was better in a technical sense, but feels “La La Land” is more entertaining.

“I think the way “Moonlight” was put together, written, edited, all that stuff was stronger in that sense. But I think I will come back to watch La La Land more often than Moonlight,” Romain said.

Stone said she feels “Moonlight” winning Best Picture was progressive and significant.

“I’m really happy it won because for a lot of reasons I think it was a phenomenal movie, and then there’s also context that you have to consider,” Stone said. “ It’s about a black gay person finding his identity, and that it won I think says something really profound, and I don’t think it is necessarily telling of the times because we have a lot of issues, but I think it’s really impressive and important.”