‘Moonlight’ is a sprawling story from America’s depths

The fragility and preciousness of the spirit, the odds that are stacked against sensitivity, the distortions that can be inflicted on the soul — these are familiar subjects and sources of passion in literature and film.

In “Moonlight,” the story of a young man who grows up in a terrible place, they find fresh and renewed expression.

Jenkins’ first film, “Medicine for Melancholy,” about a man and a woman in the 24 hours after a one-night stand, showed a rare ability to convey a directorial consciousness through external means.

There was a feeling of suppressed romanticism, a sense of life and possibility alive in the world that the characters were missing.

There’s no hint of hope here except in the filmmaking itself, which is restless and energetic and, in that way, exudes a kind of belief.

Fortunately, Chiron is rescued and befriended by an appealing and powerful man, Juan (Mahershala Ali), who works in the city but has a beautiful home in the suburbs.

Naomie Harris, who plays Chiron’s crack-addicted mother, offers us the terrifying spectacle of a small-scale monster, someone worse for not being entirely evil and thus not dismissable.

Chiron comes home from school each day to a mother who is domineering, charming, selfish, sometimes maudlin and affectionate, then suddenly brow-beating or enraged.

In one scene, Jenkins films the mother yelling at her son with the words completely submerged under the soundtrack.

At one point, we see the high school bully in a long shot that follows him, from the waist up, as he quickly walks through the schoolyard and the cafeteria.

It’s the kind of shot you’d see of a lion in a nature documentary, the exuberant search for prey.

The two other waves of “Moonlight” show Chiron as a high school student and as a young adult.

The young man’s transformations are best discovered in the experience, but one thing is worth noting and looking for in advance.