Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance, a married couple buckle under the pressure when a Hollywood actress meets them to do research for a film about their past.
May December is directed by Todd Haynes who's done some quite fascinating work such as Carol (2015), Dark Waters (2019), Poison (1991), I'm Not There (2007) and a few others. The film itself is based on a story by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, it's also loosely based on the Mary Kay Letourneau scandal.
I didn't know what to really expect from May December going in, it's a film that quickly gained an audience almost immediately when it came out earlier this month after being less talked about when it premiered at a few film festivals. To say I was incredibly impressed by this film would be an understatement.
The performances are the first thing that really sticks out, everyone here does a phenomenal job in their own ways. Each bring something truly something special and help make the film as incredible as it is, starting with Natalie Portman who plays Elizabeth an actress who travels to Savannah Georgia to meet and study the life of Julianne Moore's character Gracie. Like with most performances Natalie Portman absolutely nails it, she plays this balance between intrigue and obsession of the world that she eventually becomes involved in. She's sort of the viewers point of view, we aren't so sure what's exactly going on but once Elizabeth finds out so do we. This type of performance is incredibly fitting for a film like this especially for Portman as an actress.
Julianne Moore plays Gracie a very controlling, manipulative as well as insecure woman who is in a relationship with a 23 year old boy named Joe Yoo who is played by Charles Melton, the relationship itself started when Joe was 13 years old. Moore's performance as Gracie is both horrifying and incredibly raw, this is the type of behavior a lot of groomers tend to have and the way it's portrayed here with Moore's performance is truly powerful and absolutely scary. Moments like when Gracie makes everything about her and her only, her being dismissive of what Joe feels are what really pushes Moore's performance from being already excellent to some of the best acting from this year. Every single scene with Portman and Moore together on screen is absolutely incredible, there's a few moments in particular that I won't spoil here that really standout.
Charles Melton's performance as Joe a man who's been groomed for as long as he could remember is soul crushing, even if Joe is supposed to be 23 years old there's parts of him that the viewer still sees a 13 year old due to just how incredible Melton's performance is. That 13 year old never got to have a regular childhood, he was groomed into a relationship by someone he thought he could trust, it's trauma that quite clearly has effected Joe and only gets worse as the film goes on. Until he finally does standup to Gracie and it leads to such a powerful performance that is truly one of the best scenes from a film this year. Melton absolutely portrays a grooming victim in such a raw, honest and soul crushing way to the point where it will make you tear up.
There really is something to be said about the way director Todd Haynes and writers Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik moved this film along, throughout this film you have a mysterious atmosphere where we get the general gist of what's going on but we don't know the full details. It's not a thrilling atmosphere in the general sense but it's more of that not only is Elizabeth looking for answers but the viewer is as well, there's this connection that the film builds with the viewer very early on that really makes it effective and one of the main reasons why it works as well as it does.
One other thing this film really portrays so well is that in situations like grooming we never hear about the victim. News outlets are of course going to mostly talk about the perpetrator especially if a celebrity (which in the film that's the case) is the perpetrator because it brings them the most clicks. This film serves as a voice for grooming victims who don't have anywhere near the platform that the groomer has, it's truly powerful in execution and just works incredibly well.
Overall May December can be a hard watch mainly due to just how raw and honest the film is about grooming situations, it's a fascinating film that absolutely breaks your heart to watch. One of the very best of this year.
May December is available on Netflix
10/10 A+
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