So 2016 is gonna be the year that kick-started Janelle Monae's acting career, and it seems she's already set up to be typecast as a beautiful angel of goodness from now on.

I'm fine with that.

Also I had no knowledge of what this movie was about before I saw it (or that Janelle was in it!) so I spent the first hour not knowing where this took place. Apparently someone actually names Libertyville according to Sarah but I didn't hear it. It was just vague schools, vague streets, vague interiors.

Or rather, I didn't think it was meant to take place anywhere specifically, just "Gulf Coast Metro, USA".

And then BLAM, Chiron is on the Omni Loop. Cant put into words how I felt the moment I saw that. The rest of the movie became a wonderful experience, with me going "hey, I pass that corner that the restaurant is on all the time" or "shit man, I'VE had love on that part of the beach". I had feelings seeing certain parking lots here just like I had feelings seeing a particular brand of milk my mom used to buy just like the mom in Boyhood. Kind of an intellectually weak reason to love a movie but trust me, it's good regardless.

Now I know how New Yorkers feel.