Forward of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, political commentators on either side of the aisle in contrast the fraught voting course of to a type of nationwide biopsy. Now, “Come See Me within the Good Mild” — a placing and ethereal documentary about genderqueer poet Andrea Gibson and their harrowing battle with ovarian most cancers — is premiering at Sundance 2025 towards a flurry of latest anti-LGBTQ steps lately taken by President Trump.
Director Ryan White delivers this touching have a look at the fragility of human life at an important time for queer and trans folks in media. White’s atypical portrait of Gibson — harking back to one thing just like the tragicomic “50/50” from 2011 — depends on intimate magnificence and sharp humor to champion the poet’s artwork, id, and companion Megan Falley (additionally a poet) with optimism and vigor.
The well-spoken and likable topics foster a beneficiant tone that would earnestly encourage compassion from some much less tolerant People. The couple’s involvement additionally boosts Gibson’s public visibility as a singular voice in a tough historic second. (It’s a clumsy actuality of the so-called “most cancers documentary” subgenre that the affected person’s destiny usually doubles as a dramatic query. In January 2025, it’s value realizing that Gibson continues to be battling most cancers and continuously posts new work on-line.)
Though the poet laureate was born in jap Maine, Gibson has been a creative fixture of Boulder, Colorado for greater than 20 years. The 49-year-old author rose to fame as a spoken-word performer identified for promoting out rock golf equipment with their impassioned however nonetheless accessible musings on gender, politics, and society. Self-described by Gibson as “poetry you don’t want a level to grasp,” the artist’s socially aware, uncooked, and susceptible prose melded with their approachable androgyny for an onstage persona their companion likens to a “homosexual James Dean.”
Even battling a scratchy throat from a aspect impact of chemotherapy, Gibson’s heartfelt supply evokes an incisive and alluring heat reflective of their knack for connecting with audiences — whether or not that’s reciting poetry stay in a theater or in-conversation with White’s documentary lens. Fittingly, the poet was recommended for the principally unscripted challenge by producer Tig Notaro, who seems briefly towards the tip and boasts a physique of complimentary work in stand-up comedy.
“If I die, Meg’s actually going to want me to assist her,” the ailing Gibson provides in certainly one of many bittersweet asides directed to White’s crew. An limitless font of darkly good romance and comedy, Gibson and the 35-year-old Falley use laughter to endure oncology therapies, canceled plans, and the ever-increasing weight of potential grief. The eloquent lovers invite viewers right into a recognizable queer relationship that’s genuine, charming, and at occasions quietly devastating — if solely since you get the impression that Gibson and Falley are really and deeply in love.
A vivid spot of sapphic illustration in current documentary movie, the partnership depicted in “Come See Me within the Good Mild” suggests how you reside your non-public life and love the folks in it may be its personal type of artform. Minor particulars (blink and also you’ll miss a traditional lesbian “U-Haul” second) seem alongside bolder shows of LGBTQ pleasure (put together for a joke about fingering a tumor and, in fact, the revelation that Gibson is shut with an ex-girlfriend). It’s apowerful snapshot that stands to affirm some audiences and subtly educate many others.
As a lot an train in empathy as it’s a slice of life, “Come See Me within the Good Mild” tracks Falley’s meandering journey as a terrified companion via agonizing push and pull. It’s a relatable emotional arc no matter your sexuality, and significantly poignant when incorporating the 2 writers’ considerate essays, poems, and discussions. Concurrently, Gibson dissects their complicated life’s expertise in prolonged one-on-one interviews — talking at size concerning the irony of their troubles with melancholy years earlier than their ovarian most cancers prognosis in 2021. Gibson spends a lot of the film preventing to get again onstage, however the highway to restoration proves extra complicated than the laureate or Falley would love.
Shrugging off bodily vainness and even declining to appropriate strangers on their nonbinary pronouns, Gibson retreats from id within the face of an all-consuming and transformative sickness. That emotional shift comes into focus via White’s expressive narrative framing. Though imperfect, the filmmaker’s presentation of most cancers’s varied transmutable qualities by way of Gibson’s inventive legacy and galvanizing life partnership is efficient. Sufficient in order that it overcomes the documentary’s bloated size and typically inconsistent stress. “Come See Me within the Good Mild” co-mingles the kaleidoscopic themes of genderqueer poetry with the grueling every day administration of a lethal sickness — and does the vulnerability of its well-chosen topics exceptional cinematic justice. Via that, White creates a way of existential marvel and a movie bursting with hope for all types.
Grade: B+
A Tripod Media and Amplify Footage Manufacturing, “Come See Me within the Good Mild” had its world premiere on the Sundance Movie Competition on January 25. It’s presently searching for distribution.
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