‘Come See Me in the Good Light’ Review: A Luminous Portrait of Two Poets Navigating an Incurable Diagnosis
“Come See Me in the Good Light” director Ryan White has made a documentary that mirrors the way he felt when he first arrived at the home of spoken word artist Andrea Gibson, who has been diagnosed with incurable ovarian cancer, and their spouse, poet Megan Falley. Like their greeting, the documentary comes as an unexpected and welcoming invitation to stay awhile, even play awhile.
If that seems at odds with the deep pain, the arduous treatments and the medical assurances of an early death they face, the film — which won the Sundance Film Festival’s Festival Favorite Award on Sunday evening — disabuses viewers of that notion. There’s a closeness here that allows viewers to spend a year at the poets’ home in Longmont, Co.; to accompany the couple on oncologist visits and chemo treatments; and to hover around their bed as the pair ponder the silly and the utterly serious.
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One could chalk up the doc’s intimacy to good, old-fashioned cinema vrité, but there’s something more lyrical at work. Gibson and Falley don’t pretend that White and his small crew aren’t in their home. Quite the opposite. The couple treat the filmmakers — and therefore us — with amity. During a raunchy dinner conversation with good friend Stef Willen, Gibson addresses the filmmakers through raucous laughter. And the very first thing they say in the opening moments of the film, as they stand in their kitchen measuring a tincture, is “I’ll tell you all, I usually get so upset when Meg edits my poems.” She laughs.
Standing nearby, Falley says in a measured tone, “Tell them what you mean by that.”
In 2021, Gibson learned they have ovarian cancer. “At first I thought it was a stomach bug,” they say, reciting a piece titled “Life Anthem,” while sitting at their desk, their back to the camera. “But when it started feeling like a stomach anaconda, my doctor convinced me to get a CAT scan.” The news is not good and soon becomes more dire. “Come See Me in the Good Light,” is very good on the existential. But Gibson and Falley are even more generous in sharing their journey through the medical morass.
Throughout the documentary, White makes delicate use of Gibson’s words. And archival footage shows the young, shy and emotionally wracked poet who grew up queer in Maine, beginning to rock the spoken word circuit. Gibson, who uses gender neutral pronouns, became so popular they sold out music venues.
In 2023 Gibson was named Colorado’s poet laureate. In the midst of a film concerned with death, poetry proves essential. Through their words and deeds, Gibson offers gentle tutorials about language, meaning, hurt. The film invites us to ask ourselves: What is poetry? How does it make meaning? Why does it offer solace like so few other art forms? All this ruminating takes place even as we are transfixed by Gibson and Falley.
Gibson’s delivery is often understated, which makes what they say even funnier. Their running commentary as they fight an ongoing battle with a rural mailbox is riotous. When the comedian Tig Notaro appears — going onstage to introduce Gibson before what may be their last spoken word performance — her presence feels like a no-brainer. The longtime friends are each dry witted, yet oddly warm in the face of painful events. (Notaro and Willen were the documentary’s instigators.)
While undergoing treatments, Gibson commits to two writing projects that nudge their — and our — existential reflections. One is an essay for a gathering of poet laureates; the other is a commencement address for their Maine High School. Both have meaning, but the real urgency comes because they want to do one more spoken word show.
As another of their three-week blood tests nears, apprehension builds. The slowing of time and the appreciation in the small things it brings also builds. When Falley downloads an app that lets them see what they might look like in old age, it’s goofy and sweet and also a brief end run of the sorrow that their relationship won’t have that longevity.
“This is the beginning of a nightmare, I thought … my worst fear come true,” Gibson says. “But stay with me … because my story is about happiness being easier to find once we realize we do not have forever to find it.” These words of clarity occur early in the film. “Come See Me in the Good Light” makes good on the promise of happiness contained in that outlook.
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