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It is all too often that Hollywood takes real life events and transforms them into stories in the form of film and television. But it isn’t common for a film to address the fact that these aren’t just stories: these are people’s lives. Director Todd Haynes does exactly this in his latest film on Netflix, May December which stars Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman, and Charles Melton. The film follows Elizabeth Berry, an actress who travels to Georgia to meet and study Gracie Atherton-Yoo, a woman whom she intends to portray in a film. Gracie, being infamous for long-term relationship with husband, Joe Yoo, whom she met when he was only 13, and her family are now forced to reckon with the reality of their lives and circumstances.
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May December has been attracting all kinds of awards buzz and critical acclaim, particularly for its style in storytelling and its cast’s performances. For those unaware, May December draws several parallels to the life of Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau, a tragic and unsettling story that loosely inspired the film itself. And for all of its melodramatic bells and whistles, like the harsh piano notes in the score or moments that feel so bizarre they’re almost laughable, the film manages to capture the uncomfortable and messy nature of the inappropriate relationship that started it all. It’s very clear from the opening moments that this film isn’t a comedy or a campy story. Instead, it’s a life-long tragedy quickly unfolding over the course of two hours.
However, May December doesn’t take a surface-level approach to the contents of the story in any way. Every character is layered and either holds the power of being impactful or has the misfortune of being impacted. Gracie is excellently written as the woman who refuses to accept the wrongs of her actions, insisting that everything is normal and dismissing the claims that it isn’t. Elizabeth Berry is the personification of an actress obsessed with getting a role right, down to the very lipstick shade her subject uses. It’s not just a role, it’s a science experiment. And Joe, the young husband of Gracie, who has accepted her word as honest and true, is the epitome of a man who hasn’t quite grown in ways he should have been allowed to grow in, and is bursting at the seams to be free.
Through the startling music and sudden camera pans that intentionally makes the viewer uneasy, we’re made to ponder the question of in what world would anyone have thought any of this was acceptable. We’re all generally aware of the age old case and the parallels being about a striking amount of discomfort. But frankly, that would be the world of Gracie, a character who is so eloquently captured through the performance of Julianne Moore. At times, Moore makes us forget what Gracie’s crime even was. That is, until a scene later, we see her standing side by side with or crying in the arms of her husband Joe, played by the incredible Charles Melton who emanates a heart shattering essence within his performance.
And in nearly every moment involving Melton in any way, he steals the attention of the viewer whether we expected it or not. Joe isn’t a character to be ignored, and with his attractive appearance and his charm, it is impossible to forget the youth that was taken away. Melton perfectly relays what it means to be robbed of one’s innocence and identity, all of which belong to one person who manipulated him into believing it was all he wanted. And to wrap it up in a bow is Natalie Portman whose presence and performance disturbs the flow of our characters’ lives and rips apart the veil that shielded them from any hard-hitting realizations. Portman brings an energy that can be typical of any performer in Hollywood but also reminds us constantly that the woman she aims to emulate on the big screen is still a real person.
May December is one of those movies where its quality creeps on you the more you reflect and think about it. On the surface, one can say it’s clearly just a fictional adaptation of a true story. But as we dig deeper, it’s so much more than that. Todd Haynes manages to pull back layers of the situation over the course of barely two hours, until we’re left with something raw and childlike, but mostly saddening. So, don’t let Julianne Moore’s worry that there aren’t enough hot dogs fool you. May December is very much worthy of all the praise and discussion surrounding it, and is a must-watch as we approach awards season.
Samosa Rating:
May December receives 4 out of 5 Samosas.
May December is now streaming on Netflix.
Runtime: 1hr 53m
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