Katy

Some of the reviews here are absolutely wild to me; it's like they completely missed the part of their English classes that told them how to interrogate and interpret text. Or, the instant they are provided a piece of art with a premise that disgusts them, they're unable to look beyond that initial disgust to contemplate the art as a whole. "May December" is outstanding. It is uncomfortable, meticulous, and riveting. What many reviewers have stated is "kindness" towards Gracie, the adult who groomed and raped a child, Joe, (shown as a now-adult in the movie), is actually an onion of opinions that make up a complex human being, fantastically acted by Julianne Moore. A neighbor remarks on how beloved Gracie and Joe are in the community, and asks the interposing Elizabeth to be kind. Gracie's ex-husband Tom is a kindly but milquetoast man who offers very little insight into his wife; he felt they were happy. (Is that after years of anger and contemplation? We don't know. George, Gracie and Tom's son who happens to be the same age as Joe, says his father bloodied his hand when he found out, having beaten his fist against his desk too hard. But there's no evidence of this anger now.) Gracie's former lawyer and current neighbor essentially describes her as naive to the point of delusional, or at least without a firm grasp on the reality of her actions and their consequences. He also reveals that the neighborhood humors her. Gracie is not treated with kindness; she is treated with kid gloves, as though she isn't an adult who is responsible for her own actions, and she propagates that idea herself. I could go on and on here, but I frankly don't have time lol. I could get into how Joe is depicted with kindness, desperation, and a lingeringly devastating sadness that Charles Melton pulls off with aplomb. Natalie Portman is fantastic, evoking a kind of manipulative emotional vampire that, when you take a step back and look at both her and the overarching movie itself, require you to consider how we as the public interact with these kinds of sensationalist crimes and events. The speech Portman gives near the end of the movie, looking unwaveringly into the camera, is outstandingly delivered. (It also, again, takes a sledgehammer to the image of Gracie that has been insinuated throughout the film: she knew what was she doing. Her naivete is either a fiction, or a coping strategy.) So yeah. I guess I'm gonna be a douchebag and say you shouldn't watch this movie if you aren't interested in feeling uncomfortable or being required to interrogate what you're being shown; if you want a popcorn flick, choose something else.