Where I Watched It: Netflix

English Audio Description Provided By International Digital Center

Written By Liz Gutman

Narrated By Briggan O’Brian

Cast: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton.

Written By: Mark Thomas

Directed By: Todd Haynes

sometimes when I dive into specific directors, I take what I know of their past work, and I can imagine they very likely are using the same tricks. Wes Anderson is such a consistent example of a clear visual connective tissue running through his films. Even his animated features, like the Fantastic Mr Fox match the style. I could know nothing about the film, and know it was directed by Wes Anderson, or someone pretending to be Wes Anderson, just by how the pieces come together.

However, Todd Haynes has a lot of those same qualities running through his film. He’s very aware of his camera angles, how to perfectly capture light (or the lack there of) and somehow keeping things looking like they have almost this fantasy shine to them. Far From Heaven’s use of colors is so profound, that it sticks with you, and when you see Carol, you start noticing that same use. So I have tried to create this mental picture of what this film looks like in my head, even though I can’t see anymore, and think about how Haynes likely has assembled another visually striking film.

But that’s one of the things as a lover of cinema that sometimes misses in audio description, are these little things that often are part of the reason critics and audiences are so enamored with a film. Sometimes, something is really just shot exceptionally well. Luckily, May/December does have a unique script, and a little like Carol, asks its audience to step out of its comfort zone.

The film follows an actress (Portman) who is tasked with doing a case study of a woman (Moore) she is about to play in a movie. Years ago, Moore’s character was working in a pet shop when she started to engage in a sexual affair with a 14 year old classmate of her son. She was much older, and now, after serving her jail sentence, she is married to the adult version of that boy (Melton), and they even have kids. Their kids go to the same school that her grandkids go to. Her old family still lives in town. Haynes never once tries to paint any character as inherently good or evil, showing us a community that has worked to accept this non-traditional marriage, while also showing us a community that does not.

Portman is the star, and she makes some nice choices as she tries to find the heart of the character like the most epic method acting sequence in history. Sometimes, she’ll repeat something Moore says, not to be rude, but to try and nail her voice. She’s very inquisitive, and her uncovering all of this story allows us to uncover it as well. It’s not Portman’s most dynamic performance, but she’s a necessary vessel for the viewer.

What Haynes does here is allow the audience to make up their own minds about the marriage. In many ways, Moore and melton seem like an idyllic couple, especially as they try to present themselves when Portman arrives. there aren’t any big disagreements, just a lot of usual stuff wives would tell their husbands. In one scene, Melton enters the bed dirty, and she prods him to shower. Somehow, some critics have seen this as mothering, but it’s such a normal dynamic. Moore certainly has her scenes as she tries to put on a brave face, but there are clearly cracks in her psyche. Melton is the one to watch, because it is his reactions as the film goes on that will lead you to decide what Melton himself may not have decided. Should he be there?

It is so weird to think of Reggie from Riverdale as this critical darling, but then again, Michelle Williams started on Dawson’s Creek. Melton is the heart and soul of the film, and ultimately, how you receive his performance will decide what your take away is from this film. Some people see this as a comedy, but I took it as a real character piece with perhaps a few comedic elements. There likely are many couples living out there wit these age gaps, where they met in less than great situations, and they managed to do it in such a way that they were not in the news. Haynes, like he did with interracial romance and closeted homosexuality in Far From Heaven, as well as the age gap between Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, or even something simple like is the water safe to drink in Dark waters, Haynes wants you to think. he demands it from you and he isn’t going to give you the easy answer. this movie doesn’t resolve in some traditionally perfect fashion so he can make up your mind for you. It’s up to you to decide, largely through Melton’s performance.

Which brings me back around to the audio description. As a blind critic, I can always comment on things like sound design and score. The score here is nice, but it isn’t the most memorable of he year. And the sound design is simple, as most of the film is quiet and indoors. But, the audio description doesn’t make me feel like I’m watching a Todd Haynes film. It doesn’t capture what his technique is, but it does capture the choices made by the three actors. the little gestures, the facial expressions, the side glances, and the things left unsaid. In a piece like this, everything is so important, and if a character is standing there looking like they are about to cry, there’s often subtext as to why that would be.

I do think May December is one of the best films of the year, but it feels so odd that Melton is the takeaway here. I wanted so much more from Moore, who previously collaborated with Haynes on Safe and Far From heaven, and Portman. It’s very likely I’ll come back around to this, as it continues to sit in my mind and grow on me. I think what Haynes did here is among the strongest films of the year, but I am not sure it’s his best, and I do miss all of those little choices Haynes brings that really rounded out his previous work. Here, it relies so heavily on a script not written by him, and I just think Haynes has so much more style than this. Just the idea that Melton’s character is raising butterflies gives me an idea of what Haynes quite likely did with that shot. but I can only guess, and I can just imagine.

Final Grade: A-