OSCARS 2026: Come See Me in the Good Light (2025)

 

A couple years back, those awful Instagram poems started to go viral. I think someone published a book. Many people more in-tune with the literary world than myself were aghast by this. I suppose I was happy to see that the kids still like poetry at all, even if it's not very good poetry. Apparently, I was way off and the art of using elegant, rhyming, or stylized prose to describes thoughts and feelings is more alive in the modern age than I previously realized. You'll have to excuse my ignorance but, before watching the Oscar-nominated documentary “Come See Me in the Good Light,” that the “rock star of poetry” was a thing that could be said to exist. However, that exact sequence of words is used to describe its main subject, poet laureate of Colorado Andrea Gibson. The film makes a convincing argument that Gibson was, indeed, a rock star poet. See, watching all the Oscar nominees every year is educational!

Excuse my glibness, as “Come See Me in the Good Light” is no less heavy than the other films nominated for Best Documentary Feature. Gibson, well known for their slam poetry about gender, sexuality, and many other topics, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021. Gibson would undergo chemo treatment for the cancer, see it go into remission, only for it re-emerge again. Well aware that they will likely die in the near future, Gibson decides to focus on the important things in life. Such as their relationship with wife Megan Falley and a desire to perform on-stage one more time before the end. The film reflects on Gibson's life and history at the same time, tracking Falley's attempt to write a memoir, and witnesses the couple as Gibson undergoes new treatment, finds hope, loses it, and struggles and survives. 

As I said previously, I was not familiar with Andrea Gibson or their poetry before this film. I suppose I am out of the loop on queer and sapphic slam poetry. Throughout “Come See Me in the Good Light,” Gibson reads a number of their poems. They reflect on their gender and sexual identity, past experiences, memories, and the inevitable death they are moving towards. What I am about to write might strike some as insensitive but I didn't really care for what I heard. My knowledge of modern poetry goes no further than the Beats but I don't object to the topics, lack of traditional structure, or word work within Gibson's poetry. During the peak of their popularity, Gibson literally did perform in rock clubs. Their highly expressive, very pointedly read performances of their own words strike me as kind of corny. I feel that way about all so-called “slam poetry.” It's not my thing. Gibson repeatedly states that they only use “five words” in their writing and do not consider their work especially literary. To any sapphic poetry enthusiast that might be reading, I am sorry. Please forgive my gonadal bias. 

In spite of Gibson's writing not being particular to my ear, I still got a lot out of “Come See Me in the Good Light.” On paper, the premise of the documentary sounds depressing. We are watching somebody slowly die of cancer, right? The film does touch on Gibson's feelings about the swiftly incoming end of their life, of course. Many tears are shed. Each of their doctor's visit carry a sense of exhaustion, Andrea clearly burnt out from the unending treatments. A few times, Andrea and Megan read new reports concerning how the cancer has advanced. At one point, a new medication leads to improvement before, at the end, Andrea learns that the malignancy has spread to other parts of their body. While the film does not cover Gibson's death, as they passed away in July of last year, a few weeks after the documentary was released, the truth is unavoidable: They aren't getting better. 

Dying is a difficult time for anyone, maybe the most difficult time we'll all deal with. What most struck me about “Come See Me in the Good Light” is, despite the grim prognosis, the amount of joy Andrea and Megan still have. The two are still clearly so in love. Megan shares recollections of how they met, how Andrea was the first person to make her feel accepted and adored in her own body. We see footage of the couple cuddling on the floor with their dog, laying in bed, laughing. They joke around, talk about their sex life, consider each others' writing. When Andrea makes the decision to go on tour again, they re-learn their own poems, Megan reading along. It shows something important. We're all going to die. Some of us sooner than later, more suddenly than others, but it will happen. That doesn't mean we can't have joy, happiness, excitement, or love anymore. Andrea describes it as dancing through sorrow. 

This makes “Come See Me in the Good Light” a poignant but surprisingly upbeat watch. You can tell that director Ryan White was perhaps hoping for a happier ending. After Andrea gets the news that their cancer has spread all over their body, a resolution about being grateful for the time they have left and a pleasant car ride must be quickly assembled so the film doesn't end on a totally downbeat note. Despite its sadness, I found the film's reflections on how love and joy can persists even during dark times touching. The film covers a lot of ground. Gibson reflects on coming out as queer, realizing their gender identity and choosing their pronouns, struggles with fitting in among the traditional feminine roles they were assigned. Their writing is covered extensively too and the film even touches a little on their early basketball career. Interesting stuff and well worth seeing, no matter how dorky slam poetry is. [8/10]