Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Come See Me in the Good Light’ on Apple TV, a heartwrenching documentary about poet Andrea Gibson’s cancer battle

Come See Me in the Good Light (now streaming on Apple TV) was my introduction to Andrea Gibson, a unicorn of a poet because they actually made a living being a poet. They published books and toured rock clubs performing spoken word shows, and became Colorado’s poet laureate – and then was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021. Filmmaker Ryan White (Pamela, A Love Story, Good Night Oppy) was granted intimate access to Gibson’s life, home and marriage to fellow writer Megan Falley, and the documentary — which lists Tig Notaro, Sara Bareilles and Brandi Carlile as producers — is a profoundly bittersweet portrait of love and pain.

The Gist: Note: Gibson succumbed to cancer in July, 2025. Come See Me in the Good Light ends before that happens. This does not mean your heart will remain unbroken, however. That’s how these things go, especially considering the intimacy of this film, which rarely deviates from Andrea and Megan’s perspectives. White follows them like the proverbial fly on the wall, and I know that’s a cliche, and I use it deliberately because one of the opening scenes delineates the difference between Andrea and Megan as writers. Andrea “eradicates” cliches from their poetry. Megan “doubles down” on cliches as she works on a memoir about her struggles with body image. We’ll eventually learn that Andrea tried to break up with Megan after the diagnosis, to spare her from the ordeal. Their relationship had been a bit bumpy to that point anyway. Andrea doubled down and proposed. I’m crying already.

Andrea and Megan live together in a lovely house in rural Longmont, Colorado, near Boulder, with a small gaggle of dogs. We watch as they build squirrel feeders and get a jolt of delight when the animals use them. Andrea shows off the sad mailbox at the end of the driveway. It keeps falling apart in strong winds and is held together with an old belt and Andrea wedges rocks under it to stabilize it. A metaphor, perhaps. They invite a friend over – many are Andrea’s exes; one is her manager and another is her closest friend – for dinner and share how Megan once quipped that she would “finger” the cancer right out of Andrea. Hands cover faces as they laugh and laugh. 

Other moments are more intense in the opposite direction. Andrea shares how they’re comforted by weekly “death meetings” with their doctor. After the initial diagnosis, ovarian cancer, malignant tumors, Andrea had a hysterectomy and six months of chemotherapy but the cancer came back with a two-year life expectancy. As they speak to the camera, they’re past that two-year mark. Andrea and Megan live in three-week cycles, getting results from treatment. One time, it’s bad news and Megan feels the weight and Andrea feels some relief in knowing instead of wondering; eventually, Megan will return to her usual steady-as-she-goes self, the rock to Andrea’s state of pain and worry. 

The film works through biographical components of Andrea’s life – they grew up closeted queer in smalltown Maine, a high school basketball star struggling with suicidal ideation, and they share a harrowing story about her wrist and a kitchen knife. Now, they agree to any available treatment, hoping to prolong their life. Irony. Andrea would soon find some happiness at poetry slams, where their words connected with thirsty audiences, words that are simple and direct and lead to Andrea poking fun at themself by joking that they only know five words. A slam is where they met Megan, who couldn’t believe someone could love the body she loathed for so long. Sometimes, Come See Me in the Good Light films Andrea passionately reciting a poem, and the sequences are like music videos cut with scenes from their life. That’s when the film becomes a visually poetic interpretation of a poet’s life. And it was a beautiful life indeed. 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? The Roger Ebert biodoc Life Itself was a similarly, boldly vulnerable portrait of a beloved soul’s final days.

Performance Worth Watching: There are no performances here. Andrea and Megan seem to forget for long stretches that the camera is in the room. We should all aspire to their level of graceful vulnerability.

Sex And Skin: None.

Our Take: There’s a moment late in Come See Me in the Good Light when Andrea, fresh off the stage where they performed their final show – at long last, after tour cancellations and too many treatments that compromised their immune system – collapses on a sofa and the microphone picks up her heartbeat. Thrum thrum thrum. It’s as if the mic is in the muscle itself. I’m going to pretend I only know five words and use the word “intimacy” yet again. It’s the film’s superpower. Its subjects are brave and brazenly open; perhaps, at the time of filming, they felt as if they were gambling that doing so might inspire others. It worked. Nobody’s inspired by surface-level platitudes and arm’s-length conversations. Lessons of hope are laid bare in the hard truth of Andrea and Megan’s life.

Andrea and Megan are captured living so intensely, wrestling with the strange and cruel and curious and poignant ironies of this situation. One finds Andrea potentially losing their voice as a side effect of treatment, the one instrument that brought them out of despair and led them towards their true self. They share how their lifelong struggle with depression went away with the immediacy of a terminal diagnosis, and how acceptance of bad news eventually allows “the sweetness to trickle in.” In another scene, Andrea speaks of pursuing their “biggest tiniest dreams”; they relish ordinary moments that become extraordinary in the shadow of mortality. The film concludes with a sunset and silhouettes of a dog at Andrea and Megan’s feet and arms around each other, and the only takeaway from this is that we are here to love. Maybe that’s a cliche, but fuck it, it’s true.

Our Call: Be grateful that you have a heart so that it may be broken. STREAM IT.

How To Watch Come See Me In The Good Light

Apple TV comes with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers and has just one ad-free streaming plan available for $13.99/month.

John Serba is a freelance film critic from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Werner Herzog hugged him once.