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May December — Review: Solid Filmmaking with an Underwhelming Story
by KJ Proulx
May December is the type of film that advertises itself as something but feels different when you watch it. That’s honestly neither a negative nor positive here because the marketing for this film felt odd. For such a wild storyline, I found myself wondering if anything pivotal or important was ever going to be revealed, but it just wasn’t. I’m perplexed by this film but I would still love to deliver my thoughts. Here is why I both liked and disliked May December all at the same time.
Gracie (Julianne Moore) and her husband Joe (Charles Melton) are living their lives together, after their historic, frowned upon past. She had a child with him back when she was an adult and he was in the seventh grade. Flash forward 20 years and now a film is about to be made about their lives. Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) enters the picture as someone who wishes to study them because she is about to play the role of Gracie in the film. Natalie Portman is easily the standout of this film, as I believe she was acting circles around everyone else. I found Moore’s performance to be good, just a little hollow at times. This was a strange watch for me overall though.
This story can be uncomfortable to watch, especially if you know that it’s loosely based on a real scandal from about 30 years ago. I was just going along with it, trying to ignore that the story itself is just wrong, and hoping for some kind of satisfying conclusion to it all. Sadly, the film has no such ending. I’m all for films not having finality, but there’s really not much of a story here in my opinion and then it sort of just ends. I felt there was much more that could’ve been explored with these character’s lives. I guess I would use the word underwhelming, even though it’s a well-made movie overall.
I now have a firm stance on director Todd Haynes. Whether you’re talking about his solid direction on the film Carol or his producer credit on the film Night Moves, the projects he’s involved in usually don’t land well with me. I think his direction is good and he always brings out great performances in his cast, and even though most of his films are critically well-received, maybe his storytelling just isn’t for me. I’ve seen a few films from him now and I have always been both intrigued and underwhelmed with all of them. May December is now streaming on Netflix and the majority of people are really liking it, so maybe you will too. It just wasn’t for me, and that’s okay, I’ll still give Hayne’s next film a shot.
Rating: 3/5
Check out the trailer below:
