#May December

[manderley]

May December (2023) dir Todd Haynes

[steveyockey]

anyway. I think the work may december does in illustrating how a perpetrator of violence can continue to view themselves as, if not a victim, then at least a passive party in the situation is remarkable. gracie’s insistence that joe pursued her, that she was the less mature party from the start, her meltdown about the canceled cake order that joe has to not only eat but act out enjoyment of in order to calm her down, her recollection of her brothers threatening boys who might have taken interest in her in adolescence, it’s all in the service of crafting her vulnerability, displacing her agency as a grown woman onto joe both at the beginning of their relationship and in the present. she becomes effectively another child for him to take care of in addition to the kids he has been responsible for since 14. the tell is of course in the control she maintains to present the situation as entirely of his doing—she has to feed the narrative framing to joe because it sits in such obvious contrast to his reality. “who was the boss?” is a question that answers itself as she tries to force him yet again to accept the lie of his childhood agency.

[msanonships]

Charles Melton as Joe Yoo in "May December" (2023) director: Todd Haynes

[toneelspeelster]

may december directed by todd haynes

[dareduffie]

you know what i miss in movies. sincerity. authenticity. when scripts didn't spend their time being overtly self aware, lampshading all of their mistakes, and winking at the camera. when they told stories without a sense of spectator before they even hit the screen

[waymond-wang]

- God, I can't tell if we're connecting or if I'm creating a bad memory for you in real time, but I can't help it. - No, we're connecting, Dad. It's okay. It's okay.

MAY DECEMBER (2023) dir. Todd Haynes

[dailyflicks]

CHARLES MELTON as Joe MAY DECEMBER (2023)

[rhera]

"I wanna find a character that... That's difficult to... to, on the surface, understand. I want... I want to take the person, and figure out why are they like this. Were they born, or were they made? And then that can run the gamut from the more notorious to the... Just anyone."

MAY DECEMBER (2023) dir. Todd Haynes

[gettingscrazy]

NATALIE PORTMAN as ELIZABETH BERRY MAY DECEMBER (2023) dir. Todd Haynes

[jessepinkmvn]

"may december was so camp" "may december was hilarious" "may december was a diva off" may december was a fucking horror movie

[filmtvtoday]

May December (2023) dir. Todd Haynes

[ririsasy]

This scene in May December broke me because how innocent and pure Joe is, how he knows that's something wrong with his life, he's trapped but couldn't get out and he didn't want anything that happened to him to ever happen to his son. It's heartbreaking to see how young he still is.

I want to give all the award for Charles Melton portrayal of Joe, especially in this scene, when he curled up in his son’s embrace like he’s the one who’s younger than his own son because in a sense he’s, mentally he’s, that tremble in his hands as he tried to explain his thoughts, thinking that he would do something wrong to his son, gosh he’s too young to be a father, and Charles Melton just completely nailed this role with his whole mannerisms, that small broken voice when he whispered “that’s all I do”. he's helpless, he's anxious all the time, but he bottled up inside because he has no chance to open up.

The way they portrayed Joe's naivety like he's still a young 13 y.o boy trapped in time because the manipulation worked with a vulnerable boy like he was. They showed his youthful spirit still with his hobbies with the butterflies, his timid movement or the way Gracie bossed him around and he didn't even realize it, that he couldn't even be open and honest with his feeling or be validated about what he's feeling because Gracie would just spin those words around and make it look like he's the one who hurt her, twisting his words to her advantage, the abuse never actually end, even after the 24 years of marriage.

Gracie is a predator, an unapologetic manipulative woman that thinks she does nothing wrong because deep down she's just evil that way, the scene in a forest when she met a fox and she look eye to eye with that predator, I feel like she was looking at herself. The way she’s interacting with her children from the previous marriage, how cold a mother she was, she didn’t care much about anyone feeling. Or the way even her children with Joe didn’t like her that much, because they’re old enough to understand that their parents relationship is not normal at all, but they just couldn’t say anything about it because at the end of the day she is still their mother.

Also it was incredibly eerie at the contrast love letter that young Joe sent to Gracie, where it was just so innocent, no ulterior motive or whatsoever, he was just a kid, feeling safe and at peace around adult and expressing it that way to her, it wasn't wrong at all, not a sign that an adult should make a move at that! Then compare to the one that Gracie wrote to him, she understood completely the situation they're in, the way she asked him in the letter not to tell anyone about it, she's always been on the upper hand, she took advantage of Joe's vulnerability and used it to her own sick desire. It wasn't told explicitly in the movie but seriously everything just feel so nauseating to watch thinking how young he was.

Now Joe is older and you know nobody can safe him except himself, If he wanted to be saved or not, or if he'd accepted his life just as it's, he's just a victim but he told himself that he didn't want people to look at him like one. It's all in the adult hands that should be the ones who do better because they know better and put a stop to something that's morally wrong, it's the adult responsibility to give the understanding, but the problem is Gracie is not a good person at all or a misunderstood individual or anything, she did everything with full conscience and with no regret because she’s sick in the head.

Also Natalie Portman’s character, Elizabeth, what’s up with her? I feel like her interest for the project itself was so questionable, she looks like a predator herself at the end, was she having an affair with the director that wanted to produce the movie? The phone call she had with the director asking him about his wife was kinda sus, when she was looking at the tape for young joe character and asking for a sexier looking actor, 13 y.o boy? What’s up with that?? And that euphoric masturbation?? complete with a laugh she did at the shop where Joe and Gracie supposedly had their first sexual encounter together, it’s all so weird and not to mention she end up sleeping with Joe as well! She was taking advantage of him nonetheless, I know that Joe is older now and should be able to make his own decision but considering that Elizabeth’s intention was never actually genuine and lure him in, flirting with him at his workplace, it’s manipulative as hell.

The way Elizabeth keep trying to mimic Gracie’s every movements, I know it’s for the role, but everything that she does also kinda eerie in notion. Perhaps she and gracie wasn’t that much different? She just didn’t act on it? Or is she such a psychopath in away she wanted to experience all kind of peculiar side of human? Where she's just so detached on human feeling and only sees everything just as story? That’s why she wanted to be an actress because that was her motivation? Is she a case of an actor that took method acting in extreme? To the point she lose the way to connect with story in away that still has humanity in it because this is real people lives she’s adapting and not a fantasy. I really couldn’t read her true motives at the end. Perhaps there were two predators in the movie?

Over all May December is a really thought provoking film, it’s a movie I’d recommend to anyone who just love a kind of movie that makes you think about it long after you watch it. Julian Moore, Natalie Portman and Charles Melton act so brilliantly in their respective roles. I feel like Charles Melton might get his first oscar nomination for supporting actor for this role because how good he was in this. 9/10.

[k-wame]

Charles Melton 2023 Annual Academy Museum Gala · via tiktok (whomagazine)

[kitc0nn0r]

give it the screenplay oscar i’m serious

[ilikestuff69]

2024 Oscar Snubs

Zac Efron

Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie

Greta Lee and Teo Yoo (and John Magaro tbh)

Dominic Sessa

Charles Melton

Fantasia Barrino

Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal

John Wick: Chapter 4

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse (it was nominated for Best Animated, but it deserved more).

[chvrlesmelton]

CHARLES MELTON for People Photographed by Erik Carter