May December

⭐ 8.0/10

(Originally written by Tim)

What a flick! I can't say I loved it, but I love that they went for it. First off, my major gripe was why they didn't use the real names. This is so clearly based on a true story, I didn't understand why they couldn't place it in today's world. But that's minor.

This is about Natalie Portman learning to act like Julian Moore, who plays a woman who had a child with a 7th grader (google Mary Kay Latourneau). A crazy story, and I actually like the framing of this story. Instead of showing us beat for beat what happened, which would probably be illegal, its about a woman trying to understand how this woman thinks. The funny thing is, I don't think we are supposed to side with Portman either. The music is super over the top, very soap opera-y, and the idea of a method actor spending weeks with the family is kind of stupid. Maybe that's the moral of the movie, acting is weird and when you try to act like a crazy person either you are also crazy or you inevitably go crazy.

I thought the ending of the movie was the best part, so stop here if you care, but its basically revealed that this show Portman is preparing for is a total hack-job, over dramatic and not at all realistic, basically a soap opera. So this pretentious work of method acting is wasted on absolute trash, which is funny, but also probably an indictment of our obsession with the tabloids and trying to understand insane people.

MVP here is clearly Charles Melton as this stunted adult. Its a super weird part to play, and I thought he crushed it. Everything around the family dynamic feels so awkward, and I think that radiates from him. There is a good scene where he confronts his wife about the reality of their situation and what happened, and he completely converts to a young boy, and her back to an abuser.

So ya, didn't love it, but there was a lot I liked in it. A pretty disgusting story where if the genders were flipped the abuser would still be in prison. I don't think the movie really sheds any new light on this story, but that also doesn't appear to be its intention, which I find kind of fascinating.