TODD HAYNES HAS spent much of his career making films about people who struggle to express even the most basic emotional need. Sometimes the web they're stuck in is one they have spun themselves, a filigree of delusion and self-protective lies. Other times, they fear society's judgment. In his best films-the thwarted lust and romance of Poison, Far From Heaven, and Carol; the suburban rot of Safeit's both. His new movie, May December, follows a famous actress named Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) who travels to Tybee Island, Georgia, to meet the notorious woman she's about to play in a biopic: Gracie (Julianne Moore), who filled the tabloids 20-odd years ago after she seduced, and got pregnant by, a middle-school boy named Joe. Now that boy is a man (Charles Melton), and he and Gracie are still together and raising their own nearly grown children. The intrusion of Portman's glamorous outsider makes Joe question what he had forced himself to accept about his lifebut in classic Haynes style, that's no guarantee he'll break free.
I noticed something rewatching your films: You've shot a lot of scenes of disapproving townspeople gawking at the protagonist for doing something transgressive. You've also got a lot of scenes where people are gawking at someone because they're famous. May December has both.
Those are almost invariably nods to similar shots in Fassbinder melodramas where he separates protagonists who are put into a fraught situation with the mores of the culture. In May December, looks in general are a motif throughout, along with which characters have access to seeing things. Natalie Portman's character, Elizabeth, is an actor, somebody whom people look at and project onto. At first, we presume she's going to be our view into this story, but she's hardly the anonymous, objective reporter in the dark.
Is this the first movie you've ever made about filmmaking?
Bu hikaye New York magazine dergisinin September 25 - October 08, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye New York magazine dergisinin September 25 - October 08, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Trapped in Time
A woman relives the same day in a stunning Danish novel.
Polyphonic City
A SOFT, SHIMMERING beauty permeates the images of Mumbai that open Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light. For all the nighttime bustle on display-the heave of people, the constant activity and chaos-Kapadia shoots with a flair for the illusory.
Lear at the Fountain of Youth
Kenneth Branagh's production is nipped, tucked, and facile.
A Belfast Lad Goes Home
After playing some iconic Americans, Anthony Boyle is a beloved IRA commander in a riveting new series about the Troubles.
The Pluck of the Irish
Artists from the Indiana-size island continue to dominate popular culture. Online, they've gained a rep as the \"good Europeans.\"
Houston's on Houston
The Corner Store is like an upscale chain for downtown scene-chasers.
A Brownstone That's Pink Inside
Artist Vivian Reiss's Murray Hill house of whimsy.
These Jeans Made Me Gay
The Citizens of Humanity Horseshoe pants complete my queer style.
Manic, STONED, Throttle, No Brakes
Less than six months after her Gagosian sölu show, the artist JAMIAN JULIANO-VILLAND lost her gallery and all her money and was preparing for an exhibition with two the biggest living American artists.
WHO EVER THOUGHT THAT BRIGHT PINK MEAT THAT LASTS FOR WEEKS WAS A GOOD IDEA?
Deli Meat Is Rotten