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May: Mark's Take
01/05/2005 . Source: Mark R. Leeper 
May is a very nasty and disturbing little horror film that the viewer will probably either love or hate, says Mark. Like a road accident it is at once very unpleasant see and at the same time mesmerizing. It manages to be original while giving nods to many of the classics of horror. This is the story of a very disturbed woman with fixations on sewing and body parts and a doll. Buy May in the USA - or Buy May in the UK  They all come together in a nightmarish scenario. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
MAY is a film that is only 93 minutes long, but it will stick with the viewer for a lot longer. It is short but potent. Whether it might go too far and be over the top and silly will depend on the viewer. The film brings together a several off-center characters, but most are merely neurotic. The main character May blends in with the neurotic but she is actually psychotic and scarred from her past. Having amblyopia (a.k.a. lazy eye) from a young age she is stigmatized and develops a fascination with body parts, perfect and imperfect. Her mother is little help for the hurting child and her only real friend is a doll with a haunting facial expression that stares out from a protective case of glass. May (as an adult played by Angela Bettis) grows with related fascinations for self-mutilation and sewing.
One day May sees Adam, a young man with what she thinks are perfect hands. May and Adam are attracted to each other, particularly because Adam also has a taste for the bizarre and baroque. But then Adam starts to sense that May's love of the strange goes much deeper and more dangerously in her than in him. For him horror is a playful interest, but for May it is deeply engrained in her personality. When Adam tries to escape May he starts a grim chain of events. This all makes the story sounds like a prosaic story of a psychopath. The film is somewhat stranger than I can express here.
Where the story is going may be telegraphed a little too early and easily, but the whole film is a sick joke taken to its conclusion. The strange off-center characters struggling to fit in are reminiscent of DONNY DARKO. But that is only one can see in this film reflections of many films including vampire films and Universal's and Hammer's Frankenstein films. At times I was even reminded of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and of CARRIE.
In fact Bettis did play the similar Carrie White in the television remake of CARRIE. The nihilism is in some ways reminiscent of the Brothers Quay. Another nice stylistic touch is the doll whose face never changes, but whose face is an expression that always seems to be a perfect reaction to the action, perhaps a nod to Kuleshov. The film is full of disturbing images. When one of the characters says, "this is some sick sh*t," he could be referring to the entire film.
Though the actors are not well-known, they are effective. Bettis is very good in the title role. Her whole body language speaks of her discomfort. She frequently follows the action with her eyes as if she is afraid to invest a movement of her whole head in an action. There are traces of black humor in the film but they do not overpower the mood.
This is a film that is hypnotic, disturbing, and even painful. For a small, low-budget film it does pack an impact. I am not sure that it really rates some of the adulation that some critics are giving it, but I rate MAY a very respectable high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 8/10.
Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 2005 Mark R. Leeper
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