May December
Kyla Percival

Review by Kyla Percival Pro

May December 2023

★★★★½

Watched 23 Nov 2023

There’s a lot to be said about the role art—particularly film—plays in holding a mirror up to our characters and forcing us as humans to reckon with our traumas. Nothing confronts the past quite like cinema. And nothing can make us have quite so many hopes for the future. Although as Joe discovers, the future that a dalliance with cinema teases can only be realized through truly facing the past.

Everything is firing on all cylinders here: the score, the cinematography, the direction and—of course—the performances. Natalie Portman is mesmerizing, and Charles Melton is truly commendable as the emotional centerpiece. The script is exquisite with the climax simplifying the whole of humanity into two distinct categories: those who hunt and those who nurture.

This is a film that much like its subject matter will haunt the viewer. The most haunting aspect to me is an early magazine cover which dubs the affair between Joe and Gracie inhumane. But as Elizabeth herself aptly surmises: this is a human story. Humans are this complex. Humans are this simple. Humans have this capacity for cruelty. Humans have the tendency to avoid their own humanity. And humans uniquely have the ability to hold up a mirror to others through art so that we can confront our own humanity.

I’d rather look in Todd Haynes’s mirror than most other artists’. And if that mirror features Portman, all the better!

Block or Report

Kyla liked these reviews

' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_1c1c3806-08d4-40c8-b71c-6bb9bce3d634" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-1c1c3806-08d4-40c8-b71c-6bb9bce3d634'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div -tile300x250 -alignleft -bottommargin'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'med_rect_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-1c1c3806-08d4-40c8-b71c-6bb9bce3d634'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-1c1c3806-08d4-40c8-b71c-6bb9bce3d634'));
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_d29c925b-b61c-403d-8ab9-ef9dfcdcbe47" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-d29c925b-b61c-403d-8ab9-ef9dfcdcbe47'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'sky_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-d29c925b-b61c-403d-8ab9-ef9dfcdcbe47'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-d29c925b-b61c-403d-8ab9-ef9dfcdcbe47'));