May December: Movie Review

Cast: Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman, Charles Melton
Director: Todd Haynes

More an intriguing portrait of what happens after the headlines go away, director Todd Haynes' May December sees Natalie Portman's wannabe actor Elizabeth Berry shadowing Julianne Moore's Gracie Atherton-Yoo.

Gracie hit the headlines when she had an affair with an adolescent schoolboy and subsequently married him - now with a film about to be made over the scandal some two decades later, uncomfortable moments are resurfaced in this genial movie that takes a little while to find its audience.

There are more meta touches in this movie which touches on the US' desire for scandal, even decades after the headlines have hit; early on Gracie is sent a box with faeces in, a shocking delivery, but given the fact it's happened for years, Moore's character is blase about it happening.

There's a precision to May December, from Haynes' fashioning of a story to a script that somehow works despite some glaring omissions (why does Grace never ask about her time in jail being chief among those) - but it derives its pleasures from the Portman-Moore pairing which centres this drama, rather than overshadowing it.

Chiefly, as Portman's character becomes closer to the subjects she is studying, one gets the feeling the lines are being blurred thanks to the script and its subtleties. Less so with the soundtrack throughout which intrudes and whose over-hyped piano moments verge on the OTT threatening to take viewers out of the moment.

It may be about the horrors beneath in life and within the mundane, but May December's chief strength lies in its vagueries - it feels incomplete in parts, and seems to be making a commentary on life in general.

It afford no easy answers as it plays out (and nor should it) but for those willing to give in to its somewhat obtuse moments, May December offers vicarious pleasures throughout.