Review by Dustin Putman
4 stars out of 4
It has been over two years since I have written a review for a motion
picture currently available on video and DVD. I mostly prefer to stick
to critiquing movies currently in theaters, and very few others invigorate
enough passion in me to feel the need to write about them. Something,
however, must be said about debuting writer-director Lucky McKee's
"May," which is finishing up its very limited theatrical release and
will be released to DVD on July 15. "May" was a critical hit when
it premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, and continued its
acclaim via other fests and Internet word-of-mouth, but distributor
Lion's Gate Films treated it like an ugly stepchild and gave it zero
support. Shame on you, Lion's Gate! "May" is not only one of the most
auspicious and original independent features in years--particularly
for a first-time filmmaker--but it is one of the best films of 2003.
"May" is an incisive and touching character study about a young woman
(Angela Bettis) whose childhood insecurities have carried over into
adulthood. It is an often enormously funny comedy, in which the humor
stems from both natural and offbeat human behavior and emotions. And
then, finally, it takes a turn toward the grimmest recesses of the
mind in the third act, when May's best friend--a sacred, eternally
encased porcelain doll--is accidentally broken, and psychotic tendencies
eventually alienate her from her only two living friends, the darkly
sexy Adam (Jeremy Sisto) and wildly sensual co-worker Polly (Anna
Faris). In a desperate attempt to rekindle the relationship she shared
with her doll, May sets out to steal her favorite body parts from
acquaintances and assemble a new life-size companion.
"May" is a horror film, and it is one of the most inventive and genuinely
disturbing ones to come around in some time, at that, but it offers
up another characteristic more rare for the genre. Through Lucky McKee's
impassioned direction and alternately delicate and merciless writing,
he gets the viewer to put a rooting interest into the story and characters,
and then gets them to care. It is safe to say that May eventually
careens over the deep end into madness, but through the careful set-up
of her character, one understands why she does what she does in the
third act, even if they can't necessarily relate to it. In May's eyes,
the murder of imperfect human beings is only a means in which to make
a perfect doll out of each person's best physical features. May is
a sick individual, but she is almost as much of a victim as she is
the villain. The viewer fears what she may do next, even as they empathize
with her lonely plight.
Perhaps what writer-director Lucky McKee achieves most beautifully
is his three-dimensional presentation of May within a film that offers
almost no horror scenes in the first hour, yet still has the viewer
recoiling in apprehension at every encounter May has with someone,
simply out of fear of what she may be capable of doing. At one point,
May goes to work with a group of blind children at a day care center,
but it remains unclear if she has offered her services as a way of
doing genuine good, or out of more devious reasons.
May is also deeply attracted to Adam, especially his hands, and she
carries around a pack of cigarettes he once gave her as some sort
of treasured entity. "Do you think I'm weird?" May asks Adam. "I like
weird," horror movie buff Adam responds, but he follows that up later
with, "not that weird," when she tries to reenact a scene from his
latest student film, about cannibalism. Likewise, Polly is a free-spirited
lesbian who shows a definite romantic interest in May, but unintentionally
hurts her feelings when she later makes it clear that she doesn't practice monogamy.
In a talent-defining role that will hopefully do for her what 1976's
"Carrie" did for Sissy Spacey, Angela Bettis (1999's "Girl, Interrupted")
is note-perfect as the mousy and dangerous May. Bettis has made the
wise decision to play up May's crumbling self-esteem and yearnings
to fit in, rather than her villainy, which causes the proceedings
to be all the more heartbreaking when she is driven mad. Meanwhile,
May's doll, which she confides in and thinks of as a miniature version
of herself, looms over the scenes even when it isn't present, the
cracking of the glass it is encased in a chilling symbol of May's own fracturing sanity.
In key supporting roles, Jeremy Sisto (2003's "Wrong Turn") effectively
chooses to play Adam with an attractive swagger he doesn't recognize,
and a relatively normal personality that spars with May's more adventurous
and pushy side, while Anna Faris (2002's "The Hot Chick") is a delight
as the almost-as-offbeat Polly who, nonetheless, refuses to be faithful
to May. Faris plays her last scene, especially, with a frightening
vulnerability whose cumulative effect proves unshakable.
The climax of "May" is nearly unbearable in its assured intensity,
and unforgettable in its unblinking views of psychological sickness,
ruthless serial murder, and even darker possible areas of the human
condition. The first full hour of exposition and set-up brilliantly
paves the way for what finally occurs, even if you cannot quite believe
director McKee's bravely grim and poignant intentions. The final image
"May" cooks up is its most courageous. In the wrong hands, or in a
more exploitative movie that had not allowed its audience to care
about its main character, the shot may have inspired bad laughs. It
does not, however, and McKee earns its subtle implications. Simply
put, it is the most bone-chilling sequence of the year, infinitely
more disturbing than anything in "House of 1000 Corpses," "Wrong Turn,"
"Identity," or "28 Days Later."
Lion's Gate may have ruined its chances of gaining a large following
through theatrical bookings, but "May" has what it takes to become
a cult phenomenon, much like 2001's initially overlooked but finally
found "Donnie Darko." As a stirring drama, a marvelously developed
character piece, a sly black comedy, a taut psychological thriller,
and a gory, scary, no-holds-barred horror film, "May" is a new cinematic
masterwork, a film with the ability to do all five things at once,
or apart, with pitch-perfect grace. Don't let this one-of-a-kind experience pass you by.
Copyright © 2003 Dustin Putman
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