Nicholas Britell – Little’s Theme, Chiron’s Theme, Black’s Theme

The film Moonlight tells the story of its main character, Chiron, in three chapters: when Chiron is a young boy, nicknamed Little, when he’s a teenager, and when he’s an adult, nicknamed Black. For each chapter of the film, composer Nicholas Britell created a theme, and in this episode, Nicholas takes those themes apart. The score for Moonlight was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, and the film itself won the Golden Globe for Best Drama.

This episode is part of a series I’m doing in conjunction with New York Magazine’s site Vulture, looking at awards-worthy film music from this season. For more, visit vulture.com/awards.

You can buy the soundtrack to Moonlight on iTunes, or on vinyl.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.