May December reviews

[Sabin]

Sonic Youth wrote
My problem with the scene, though, is that it raises the questions "What does Portman do now?", "What has she learned from this?" Since it goes straight into the final scene, the answer to both questions seem to be "Nothing.", unless the movie is saying this has been all too much for Portman and she's retreated back into her comfort world of cheap Hollywood exploitation. Either way, I think we were owed at least one more scene to slightly if not fully clarify things.

Okay, the more I think about it, the more this is bothering me.

I'm a big admirer of May December as a script but I don't think it ties everything together at the end and lands its big point. You're right. The answer is "Nothing." I don't have a problem with the fact that Portman's actor doesn't -- or can't -- get to the truth. My problem is the fact that she doesn't doesn't hit like I wanted it to. The scene where Natalie Portman is left speechless by Julianne Moore doesn't mean anything because at that point she had no credibility left. I don't know if we needed one more scene. I just think the last two scenes needed refining. I know many people who find the final minutes haunting. I don't. I think it's saying a lot of interesting things (in the final minutes) but it isn't dramatizing them as powerfully and clearly as it could.

[Reza]

Have been trying to finish this film but keep getting distracted and turning it off. Have always liked films by Todd Haynes (and that cast is so good) but I find this to be such a bore.

Nyad is another one. I've been trying to finish watching it for the last 3 weeks. Keep switching channels as I find it so laborious and repetitive.

Need to finish Maestro as well. Gave up half way through.

Will have to force myself to finish both because of Oscar fever.

[Sonic Youth]

My problem with the scene, though, is that it raises the questions "What does Portman do now?", "What has she learned from this?" Since it goes straight into the final scene, the answer to both questions seem to be "Nothing.", unless the movie is saying this has been all too much for Portman and she's retreated back into her comforrt world of cheap Hollywood exploitation. Either way, I think we were owed at least one more scene to slightly if not fully clarify things.

Okay, the more I think about it, the more this is bothering me.

[Big Magilla]

Those two jangling questions didn't bother as much as the limp ending with Natalie Portman filming the TV movie about Julianne Moore and Charles Melton's characters.

I thought the gun incident just before the graduation scene meant that she was thinking about doing something with it but got herself back under control.

I think the accusations by the oldest son played by Cory Michael Smith and the denials made by Moore were meant to give it a lady-or-the-tiger ending where you have to decide which version you believe. I kind of believe Smith's version, which would give some explanation for Moore's behavior. Her shrugging it off as his looking for attention just doesn't ring true. If I were Portman's character, I would have been shocked that Moore would but the blame on her son rather than have been shocked that the son had told her a lie. In either case, Moore clearly isn't playing with a full deck which gives more sympathy and pathos to Melton's situation.

[Sonic Youth]

"What was the point", I'm seeing a lot of people asking. Well, I certainly got at least one of the points, that Hollywood can be nasty, cheap and dehumanizing. And if you're in the mood for some bitchy jostling, it certainly scratched that itch. I doubt it was meant to be the central theme, because otherwise Portman would've been the central character. And (for the most part) I don't really care much, because once we got past the first 10-15 minutes (Haynes captures the languid haziness of Savannah all too well, which is a problem when you start watching after 11pm) I was in rapt attention. If it ends up with unanswered questions, I (mostly) forgive it. This is just a good ol' character study, and so many films these days have to have a "twist" or "punch line" or "aha" to wrap things up and make it easier to slot it into a genre category. I admit, I kept waiting for the film to spill over into thriller territory. That it didn't do so is actually quite refreshing. It's mesmerizing acting and storytelling just for the sake of it. Ain't nothin' wrong with that.

Could you tell I was only 90% convinced by what I just wrote? I believe every word, but I would feel better about it if the film wasn't slightly at fault for building up most people's dashed expectations. The two specific things that troubled me was the overly-portentious scene of Moore going hunting. (Look, a gun! It's going to be used on someone, right? Well, no.); and, more seriously, the unresolved question of the older brothers (first brought up by Cory Michael Smith, the only casting mistake in an otherwise superlative cast). It was left dangling on purpose, but what exactly WAS the purpose? What was the truth? Clearly we're not meant to know. It's just one more bit of proof that this family is intra-generationally traumatized. But leaving Portman standing in a field with a quizzical expression does not make for a satisfying conclusion.

So I get some of the griping. There may be some small frustrations, but I've made my peace with them since it's one fhe best of the year(..... bearing in mind that I've only seen this and Barbenheimer.)

[Big Magilla]

Here's the breakdown of the score between Marcelo Zarvos' original music and the adaptation of Michel Legrand's score for 1971's The Go-Between from the film's soundtrack album:

1. Opening – Michel Legrand (1:14)
2. Elizabeth Drives – Marcelo Zarvos (1:56)
3. Studying Gracie – Michel Legrand (1:54)
4. Butterfly Eggs – Michel Legrand (1:37)
5. Elizabeth Meets Ex – Michel Legrand (0:57)
6. Storage Room – Marcelo Zarvos (1:06)
7. Old Photos – Michel Legrand (0:36)
8. Joe and Father Talk – Marcelo Zarvos (0:38)
9. School Visit – Marcelo Zarvos (0:51)
10. Graduation – Michel Legrand (2:18)
11. Gracie Cries – Marcelo Zarvos (1:36)
12. Mirror Images – Michel Legrand (0:47)
13. Joe Showers – Michel Legrand (1:12)
14. Dropping Off Mary – Marcelo Zarvos (0:58)
15. The Letter – Marcelo Zarvos (0:32)
16. Elizabeth On Set – Michel Legrand (2:33)

[danfrank]

I think this is masterful. Haynes plays with genre and tone (that score!) in a way that captivates, confuses, keeps you on your toes, and ultimately tells a devastating human story. I agree with Sabin that this is a terrific screenplay. The cast standouts are Melton and Moore, in extraordinarily complex roles. Melton’s ability to pull off the parentified child role, quietly unveiled throughout the film, was just outstanding. I hope the critics boost him to a nomination. Moore’s defiant everything-is-normal posing while trying to conceal some unknown combination of monster/victim is also quite impressive. Natalie Portman has always alienated me as an actress, but this part is a good fit for her. If there’s a weak part of this film, though, it’s her unclear integration into the story. Her character is more of a device (to peel back the real story) and a symbol of exploitation more than a real human character.

Haynes’s films seem to befuddle the Academy, so I don’t expect much nominations-wise. I’m just glad we’re getting some meaty films this year. And boy, this one brings the meat!

[Sabin]

SPOILERS...

Big Magilla wrote
The screenplay left a lot to be desired. At best, it should be in contention for Most Promising Newcomer for its writer who can certainly write dialogue, but Best Screenplay? I don't think so.

I disagree. I think this is a very strong screenplay. We learn something new practically every minute but it's also a fascinating juggling act of tones. But also as it goes along our point of view completely changes. At the start of the film, we identify with Natalie Portman's character because we have to. It's a detective story driven by an actor but by the end she recedes just enough for us to identify with Charles Melton and even to a degree Julianne Moore. It's a detective story with a disappearing detective.

That's actually my one big problem with the film. Whatever the point of Natalie Portman's character isn't entirely clear and doesn't hit like it should. Coming off of Saltburn (which I mostly enjoyed), subtlety is something to be appreciated with something like this but I think it's missing a stronger payoff (or punch line) with Natalie Portman's character. The end goes for a bit too much ambiguity. Maybe this worked for her character on the page but on the screen I think she's too broad a conception.

That said, the more time goes by the more I like it.

[Big Magilla]

I'm still mulling this one over, having seen it just two days ago but I agree with the consensus that Charles Melton is the best thing about it, although Julianne Moore's performance is growing on me.

I didn't like Natalie Portman's poorly written character or the way she played her. She's supposed to be an observer, but why? Couldn't she have learned how to arrange flowers and bake a cake by observing a professional florist and a gourmet cake maker? What was the point of her crossing the line in seducing Moore's husband? Did she have feelings for him, or did she want to feel what it would be like to take advantage of him the way Moore did? And what was the point of that ridiculous ending in which her director makes her do an inane scene over and over. Is there anyone out there who doesn't know how tedious that can be for actors?

Moore, on the other hand, has a very difficult role, playing a selfish, manipulative woman who doesn't realize how selfish and manipulative she is. She pulls it off to perfection, but it's Melton who really stands out as the manchild who is just beginning to come into his own. I agree with Okri that the roof scene with his son in which he seems to be realizing for the first time how much in life he has missed is devastating.

The scene where he opens the door to the cage to let the butterfly out, though beautifully filmed, is a bit too obvious in its implications but it works unlike the scene with Moore hunting with her rifle symbolizing her predatory side just before she goes to her twins' graduation, which was really unnecessary.

The screenplay left a lot to be desired. At best, it should be in contention for Most Promising Newcomer for its writer who can certainly write dialogue, but Best Screenplay? I don't think so.

[Sabin]

I'm still sussing out of if this is some kind of deep work but it's really engrossing one. My favorite thing about the film is that it's a detective film (starring an actor) to get to the truth about a story. It's clearly halfway on that we shouldn't expect the actor to detective out anything cathartic but our relationship with the characters and the story still more or less changes scene to sene. In their first scene together in bed, Melton and Moore more or less have an "I Married a Teenager" relationship but during Moore's emotional breakdown (over a cake) we're seeing something more gothic, leading one to imagine the film might end with her being locked in an attic somewhere. There's a lot scenes like that. And yet while I do think it wants to have it both ways by being a tongue-in-cheek thing but also very well, I think it pulls it off. By the end of the film, we get not just the full view of a relationship but also the corrupted systems that produced them (including one embodied by Portman), but also the film teases us into thinking salaciously the film will go in one salacious direction (near the moment where Melton releases the butterflies) only to take the more mature road that, no, life just goes on. They don't live in the kind of movie that will be made about their lives. I don't know if I would call it a complex drama but it feels like one, thrilling told.

I'm not sure how or if Academy voters will go for this given Haynes' track record but I do think it's helped by the fact that it's industry-knowing as well as hilarious (due to the soundtrack). But yeah, I think it's Melton who is the standout. He takes a while to come into view this broken hearted guy who's barely processing the life he's inherited. His final scene with Moore is a real heartbreaker. The whole cast is great, right down to the people in it for a moment.

[Okri]

I am so curious what people will think of May December. I hadn't read any reviews so I was unaware that the plot is a take on the Mary Kay Latourneau case (and if I'm being honest, I wasn't entirely convinced that I had the correct name and a read on wikipedia reminded me just how little I recalled/if I ever knew about it).

On the one hand, it's VERY nervy work from Haynes and co. It's pitched somewhere between an episode of a true crime reenactment and All About Eve (I kept thinking about Murder One, actually). But does it promise more than it delivers? I'm not sure the general feeling of unease I had throughout actually goes anywhere. It certainly left me with a lot of unanswered questions. I don't quite buy the way the story between Portman and Melton develops (but then Portman delivers a line that knocks me on my ass). I'm also not quite sure I buy the shift in judgement that Haynes/Burch attempt. But again, the film is so nervy and consistently thought provoking.

Moore, Portman and Melton tackle roles that basically feel unplayable and do fairly well by them. Moore probably has the role closest to what we think she could do, but it's a terrific balancing act. Portman is absolutely ruthless, playing up Elizabeth's parasitic nature without irony... it's a really fearless performance. Melton's confusion and grasping for answers contrasts nicely against his costars and that scene on the roof is casually devastating.

I need to see The Go-Between.

[Sabin]

I'll give Mister Tee a break. A few dissenters but reviews for Todd Haynes' latest are largely enthusiastic.


https://deadline.com/2023/05/may-decemb ... 235374233/
https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/m ... 235619614/
https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/mov ... 234865750/
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/m ... t-delivers