MAY DECEMBER is in select theaters November 17th 2023 and streaming on Netflix December 1st!
LOGLINE: Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple (Julianne Moore, Charles Melton) buckles under the pressure when an actress (Natalie Portman) arrives to do research for a film about their past.
Normally if you have a drama directed by Todd Haynes starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, the last words you would use to describe it are boring, slow, uneventful, dull, and monotonous. Yet here we are. The characters are intriguing but limited by what they are allowed to do. If this were a true life narrative based on actual events – not just past news items – the writing would be forgivable – to an extent. But to be unbound by fact and deliver this sort of tedium…
The acting is certainly not to blame. Portman, Moore, and Melton take what they are given and squeeze every ounce of juice out they can. Melton especially delivers a character that you feel deeply for. You see the look of regret, loss of youth, and overall desire to love on each and every facial expression and movement. Regardless of decisions made and consequences earned, there is no doubt something valuable was stolen from him. And we feel it.
The film takes place in 2015 as an actress played by Portman visits a tabloid couple 20-years after their scandal rocked the headlines. Again, this could have been set in any year. It is possible that audiences would believe that 1995 was more prime for this sort of debauchery? There is a creepiness that exudes throughout the film. The fact that we know that this much older woman had sex with a middle schooler, got pregnant by him, and they got married; it is hard to watch this and not have that thought distract you.
Still, you feel like at any moment something huge is going to happen, or some unforeseen twist. Nope. We get all these odd, obviously unhinged characters only to have nothing worthwhile happen. Why make them so broken only to let them fizzle. If you only wanted to make a drama about whatever this was supposed to be, then just give us boring characters to match.
Moores character especially has some deep rooted issues that come out in how she talks to and treats her family. None of this is ever flushed out. We just have to assume that she is the way she is and move on. I am not good with that. The pain she is causing her family is palpable, yet never truly explained.
May December is rated R for some sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language. All of which takes up about 45-second of the film. Other than that it could easily – and more fittingly – be a TV movie of the week. Netflix spent a lot of coin getting this film, and they are pushing it hard this year. Could I be wrong? Wouldn’t be the first or last time. Check it out for yourself when it hits that “recommended”Top Picks” bar in your profile then let me know your thoughts.
#MayDecember | @NetflixFilm
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