May December (2023)

Lachlan Thiele

8.0

May 29, 2023

<b>INT. MOCKING-MOORE - DAY </b> May December is an excellent satire with incredibly dark themes at times. Portman's Elizabeth is an actress tasked with researching her next role, a movie based on the massively dramatised life of <i>Julianne Moore's</i> character. Moore and Portman shine in their roles, and both can create believable characters whilst still pushing the unbelievable humour and situations they are put in. Portman, mainly with her fascination with making an actual 'true-to-life' performance as <i>Gracie</i>, copies her quirks and tendencies, providing the audience with laughs.…

CinemaSerf

7.0

Oct 19, 2023

This actually reminded me a little of "All About Eve" (1950) as television actress "Elizabeth" (Natalie Portman) arrives at the home of "Gracie" (Julianne Moore) about whom she is to star in a biopic. Initially welcoming of her and keen to help, we follow the changing dynamic as we learn that "Gracie" has quite a past, and that her husband of 20-odd years, "Joe" (Charles Melton) is considerably younger than her and there was quite a furore when they first hooked up that saw the older woman incarcerated. The more she finds out, the more involved "Elizabeth" becomes and the more immersed we all…

In moviemaking, there’s subtlety, and then there’s subtlety carried too far. In the case of director Todd Haynes’s latest, the filmmaker unfortunately indulges himself far too much in the latter. This story of an actress (Natalie Portman) who visits a middle-aged sex offender (Julianne Moore) to prepare for a role she’s about to play in a movie about her subject’s life never seems to find a footing to stick with and explore. The narrative examines many different aspects of the back story behind the lives of the characters to be portrayed in this pending production without ever really resolving…