May December

"May-December" (2023) is the kind of movie that sticks with you. It's the film you find yourself thinking about not just in the days after you've seen it, but when you're lost in thought, all by yourself. It has a way of getting under your skin with its unsettling scenes that can catch you off guard.

Even with its dramatic moments that can feel a bit showy, the film bravely addresses a dark and serious issue that really bites into your sense of ease. It's a gutsy contrast to the film's lighter, sometimes playful moments, but it's a contrast that ends up working really well. The storyline cuts close to the bone, touching on painful childhood issues and awakening emotions and memories that many of us might not have even realized we were suppressing.

In terms of performances, it's Charles Melton who unexpectedly steals the show, bringing a depth to his role in a way that's just mesmerizing. Sure, Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore are incredible, but Melton is the one who truly commands your attention. Take the scene where he just listens to Portman's character - the silent story his face tells is powerful.

Melton's acting is heartfelt and sincere; it's the kind of performance that not only draws you in but also touches you deeply. I've cried during many movies, but this one hit me harder. Seeing Melton portray a man with the naive heart of a child, caught in a complicated, uneven love, moved me to tears of genuine sympathy.

Director Todd Haynes navigates through the film's challenging themes with skill, shining a harsh light on the twisted ways of predators with unsettling realism. He approaches a subject that could easily cause a stir, as it pulls from headlines we've all seen, yet he manages to create a film that's as intellectually stimulating as it is captivating, guiding the audience through an emotional journey with the expertise of a master.

What really stays with me, though, is how the film knows when to call it quits. "May-December" has moments where it feels like it's starting to drag, and I was worried it might lose its way. But then it pulls off something remarkable - it ends right when it should. The film wraps up without any unnecessary fuss, leaving a quiet impact that echoes with you. In a world where movies often overstay their welcome, this one feels refreshingly confident and decisively smart.

The movie was not what I expected. The aesthethics and the setting were beautiful and all the lead roles did a good job acting their parts HOWEVER everything else was, to put it mildly, underwhelming. The plotline was flat and didn't offer many surprises. Dramatic music and scenes building up the excitement made me long for some sort of a climax, and it just never came. It was basicly 2 hours of waiting, like smelling delicious food but never getting to taste it. The themes were interesting and important and offered a lot of potential for a great movie. The movie was just simply missing the turning point! All in all, I would not see this movie again.

Greetings again from the darkness. Contentedly, most us live our lives in a manner that would never be worthy of tabloid headlines. Not so for Gracie in this psychologically complex new film from expert director Todd Haynes (FAR FROM HEAVEN, 2002) and writers Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik. Early on, Haynes shows us those tabloids featuring Gracie's scandal following her seduction of 7th grader Joe in the stock room of the local pet store. She was 36 years old, and he was 13. Soon after, Gracie went to prison, where she bore their first child.

The story picks up 24 years later as Gracie and Joe are married, and their second and third children, twins Mary (Elizabeth Yu) and Charlie (Gabriel Chung), are graduating high school and preparing to ship off to college. In other words, they are all living a fairly normal life. However, as a harsh reminder that their lives are not actually normal, Elizabeth (Oscar winner Natalie Portman) arrives at their Savannah home to research her role as Gracie in an upcoming indie film about the scandal.

Oscar winner Julianne Moore plays Gracie, in her fourth collaboration with director Haynes. Charles Melton (THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR, 2019) plays Joe, who is now the same age as Elizabeth, as well as the kids from Gracie's first marriage. Elizabeth is polite and apologetic as she initially treads carefully in asking probing questions of the family and their friends. Her approach generates some awkward moments, and although Gracie seems to hold firmly to her did-nothing-wrong stance, it's Joe who begins to question things ... mimicking the slow development of the Monarch butterflies he breeds.

Perhaps the film's best sequence occurs when actress Elizabeth shows up for a Q&A with Mary and Charlie's class. When the question gets a bit risqué, Elizabeth's answer borders on inappropriate, and is an honest depiction of the fine line between acting and reality. Back at the house, Elizabeth's questions raise previously unspoken doubts, as well as the ongoing impact of the scandal ... not the least of which are periodic postal deliveries of excrement denoting some of the public's view of a female predator.

The similarities to the true-life story of Mary Kay Letourneau are inescapable, though a twist here is that Gracie and Joe's recollection of how things started are not necessarily in sync. Savannah is always a character unto itself, and the accompanying music is eerily spot on ... including the repurposing of Michel Legrand's score from THE GO-BETWEEN (1971). The three lead actors (Ms. Portman, Ms. Moore, Mr. Melton) are terrific, and director Haynes has delivered yet another complex movie that gives the appearance of simplicity due to how beautifully it's done.

Opens in select theaters on November 17, 2023 and streams on Netflix beginning December 1, 2023.

Before seeing the film I was very curious, I think the story was interesting, along with a renowned director and a very good cast starring Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman and a surprising Charles Melton.

I felt that the film had a lot to exploit with the psychological aspect of the characters, because basically that's where the appeal comes from, an actress who has to analyze the person behind the media character to interpret her.

But I think the script rambles too much and ends up not being very conclusive in all the aspects it tries to cover, its story remains a big what if.

But it's also true, Natalie Portman and Charles Melton were brilliant with their performances, Julianne Moore too. I think it could have been a great movie but it fell short.

Over the past thirty years, Todd Haynes has been one of the leaders of New Queer Cinema. His movies have focused on housewives whose worlds have collapsed (Safe, Far from Heaven, Carol), Bob Dylan (I'm Not There) and forever chemicals (Dark Waters). Now he brings us a fictionalized account of Mary Kay LeTourneau, who infamously raped one of her students and started a family with him.

Haynes regular Julianne Moore plays the LeTourneau character, now getting interviewed by an actress (Natalie Portman) about to play her. The movie deserves credit for Haynes's direction, Moore's and Portman's performances, and the Academy Award-nominated script and cinematography (which deliberately gives the movie a fuzzy look). The downside is the music. It gets played loudly throughout much of the movie, and ends up dominating. This doesn't add anything to the movie, and it distracts from a lot of the action. They really could've done without that.

If you're looking for a good story, then this will be the movie for you, just as long as you remember that it has some of the most obnoxious music ever.

PS: LeTourneau was the daughter of John Schmitz, a congressman from Orange County and member of the John Birch Society.