Come See Me in the Good Light - 1 Nomination

 

• Best Documentary Feature: Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro, Stef Willen

If you know me really well, you know the true delight I feel being able to congratulate genius comedian Tig Notaro on an Oscar nomination. So that alone was enough for me to be excited about this film, but then to meet and really learn about poet Andrea Gibson was the win of watching this film. Facing a difficult cancer, following her through the ups and downs of tumors shrinking then growing, seeing her manage her own grief but also experience that of her wife, and what it is to finish out one’s life while still having goals and joys and experiences - this film captures what sucks about dying and what is magnificent about living.

When you google Gibson’s poetry, you see beauty and laughter and insight and WOW, what a special human taken far too soon from the world. What I loved the most about this documentary is that it altered the “nearing death” genre and choosing to end the narrative before Andrea died, allowing us and those who knew her to remember her only as the very alive spirit that she was, and shielding us from the aftermath. This was the true brilliance of the documentary - it didn’t make death look easy, it didn’t make Andrea look angelic, but it absolutely made the point of the film to be the impact of life rather than the finality of death.

This was one of my favorite movies of this Oscars season, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. It is available on Apple Plus.