| Brief Encounters | Noses In Movies |
MAY DECEMBER 15
An actor prepares…
★★★★★ OUT 17 NOVEMBER CINEMAS 8 DECEMBER SKY CINEMA/NOW
Loosely inspired by a true story (search Mary Kay Letourneau if you want to know more), Todd Haynes’ latest catches up with a married couple – Gracie (Julianne Moore) and Joe (Charles Melton) – whose age-gap relationship sparked a tabloid storm two decades earlier. Their seemingly happy relationship starts to buckle when Hollywood actor Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) arrives to do research for a film she’s making about their lives.
On the one hand, May December’s sensitive subject matter makes for an uncomfortable watch at times; on the other, it’s vastly entertaining. Haynes’ attention to detail is typically superb: check out his canny use of mirrors, highlighting just how much Elizabeth is trying to imitate Gracie. Both Moore and Portman are sensational, fully committing to the almost soap-opera-life brief. But it’s Melton who is the movie’s beating heart. A child in a man’s body who was thrown into adulthood too soon, Joe has clearly been struggling with an internal battle for years. Neatly contrasting with the outsized nature of the other performances, Melton’s quiet turn crucially grounds the film in sincerity.
It’s a quality the film requires, preventing it from veering off completely into the wilds of melodrama. May December is a challenging film for sure, continually offering provocations, but it’s also never less than thoroughly absorbing.
THE VERDICT Wickedly funny yet truly unsettling, Haynes’ latest walks a tonal tightrope with compelling style.
RUSTIN 15
Colman of the hour…
★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS 17 NOVEMBER NETFLIX
This somewhat safe biopic is supercharged by a fantastic performance from Colman Domingo. A valuable supporting player in recent years (If Beale Street Could Talk, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Candyman, Zola), he gets the lead turn he deserves as Bayard Rustin, a real-life civil-rights organiser who rallied largescale non-violent protests, most famously 1963’s March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Rustin has his work cut out, facing prejudice and logistical challenges as he attempts to stage that protest at the Lincoln Memorial safely. Scandal around his sexuality adds to the complications, as rumours spread about his relationship with Martin Luther King Jr. (Aml Ameen).
The film doesn’t reinvent the biopic wheel, but it’s impossible not to be moved by Rustin’s cause and his unwavering devotion to it. The real Bayard was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 by Barack Obama (who produces here); as a vehicle celebrating his achievements and values, Rustin is a success.
Director George C. Wolfe (Ma Rainey’s…) keeps things moving at a clip in broad, crowd-pleasing style. If some of the wiggy supporting turns occasionally nudge the film into the realm of the cartoony, Domingo is always there to pull your attention back. No suspension of disbelief is necessary to see him as someone thousands would rally behind.
THE VERDICT A welcome showcase for Colman Domingo and a solid primer on a lesser-known civil-rights leader.