May

I overlooked this film for a long time. Don't get me wrong, i always support independent horror films, low budget; movies that are made for the viewer, the genre and movies that want to say something to true film audiences, not the Hollywood commercialized masses that never venture beyond the multi-million dollar budgeted nonsense. So, i watched May, and was moved, scared, disturbed and was brought to laughter, and almost tears, well, almost, but don't tell anybody....We get just a glimpse of the core of May's suffering when we see her as a child with an eye defect. She is an outcast, to a degree, but her mother's behavior, definitely fed her pain. Soon enough we see May as an adult, working in a veterinarian clinic. I wont go into detail about what ensues, because by now, you get the idea of what happens in the film from all of these great in-depth reviews that are written here.The film was brilliant in many ways. The acting was top notch, especially from the lead Angela Bettis as May, wow such a powerful performance by her! Im sure she was better than many female leads the year this film was released..by far! Her acting is powerful. She moved me, made me feel such compassion and sadness for her, that in a way, i wasn't furious at her for what she did, although i was like "damn May... dont do it." hahaaha. There is a point in the movie when we see her take her first step into the world of becoming psychotic, and even within that place, I still never hated her. People were cruel to her, not extremely cruel, but most had little if any regards towards understanding her extremely fragile soul, in fact people saw her fragility.. and took advantage. The lack of humanity and compassion for others and their weaknesses is a very strong theme here. The characters here who hurt May, seemed more concerned with their own ego, and not how May could be affected by their own immediate selfish needs. You see no one was brutal or vicious with her, it was more of a passive aggressive abuse that she endured, which of course can have a terrible effect on one as well.Even within her venture into insanity, we see May still has compassion, such is evident when she is working with blind children, a scene that is quite heavy. May begins to totally lose her mind, and although we cannot excuse her acts, we utterly understand where it comes from. I was saddened to see her go into that realm, throughout the movie i wished i could have helped her, explained things to her, helped her understand her own pain. Thats how great Angel Bettis' performance was, you kinda wanted to jump into the film and protect her. It bothered me to see someone being psychologically abused as an adult, especially when they come from that history as a child. May was not so much a character study, but more so an examination of the after-shock.. the results of a damaged soul. But as i said, even on another level, it's a study on those people that move through life not concerned with their words and actions which can be hurtful, even crushing to an already fractured human being.I really dug this film. It was much more than a horror film., and by the way, it had some blood and guts too, for those that want that, but it wasn't too brutal. May was superb.. acting, direction, story line, creepiness, emotions.. so much was conveyed here that makes me so appreciative of this film, i am really thankful i added this to my collection. "Horror films" like this, need to be revered..and watched, more often than these terrible shock type blood and guts, CGI remakes that Hollywood pumps out by the dozens. This will be a classic, well..it already is i believe!Readers, please forgive me, I didn't want to give an in-depth review on the plot, the characters, their development and all a' that stuff, because as i stated in the beginning many other reviewers did that brilliantly so i didn't just want to be repetitive, i wanted to express to you the emotions it made me feel and the power of the things within the film that stuck with me throughout it, and i think that's what great films are meant to do, touch us in certain ways, allow us to examine, relate or understand life through film. May definitely stays with you.Angela Bettis in a fair world, should have been nominated for her performance....Peace people..

"May" is one of those happy accidents where decent premise, lazy pre-production, low budget, and erratic editing inexplicably combine to make a terrific film. Inexplicable is not entirely right. Although Writer/ Director Lucky McKee did live up to his name and get very "lucky" on this one, he also had the sense to cast Angela Bettis (Janet Webber in "Girl Interrupted") as his title character and the directorial wisdom to rein in her performance to an understated level that supports the black comedy spirit of his film.The story is seen through the point of view of Bettis's May, a character with the social skills of Travis "you talking to me" Bickle ("Taxi Driver") and the emotional stability of "Repulsion's" Carol. Bettis is one of those amazing actresses whose face is an expressive kaleidoscope. Film is usually shot at the rate of 24 frames per second and every frame would be needed to record the series of emotions Bettis could register on her face during each second. McKee recognizes this and keeps her in check, but enough leaks out for the viewer to sense that there is a coiled spring beneath the relatively placid surface. This is a lot like the effect Elizabeth Hartman had in her films and the connection is strikingly amplified by a close physical resemblance between Bettis and Hartman.May is beautiful, fragile, and vulnerable; although wrapped as tight as Carol in "Repulsion" she elicits much more audience sympathy and protectiveness. McKee and co-star Jeremy Sisto wisely just let Bettis run with the ball and Sisto's Adam Stubbs stays a one-dimensional nice guy romantic interest.The film can be roughly divided into two halves. The first half is a black romantic comedy with genuinely touching details as May finally gets contact lenses but is unsuccessful in several planned attempts to meet Adam; then ironically they meet by complete accident. The second half is a psychological thriller with both horror elements and black comedy. The surprising unity and balance between the two halves is where McKee really got lucky as the black comedy of the second half is actually facilitated by the low budget. Had the money been available to realistically stage the violence (and had McKee given in to the temptation to do so) it would have destroyed the unifying black comedy and compromised the film. This is critical because May's second half mental breakdown is accompanied by a physical transformation that would otherwise have disconnected the two halves.Anna Faris (playing May's lesbian co-worker) also deserves praise for a great performance. Faris was unexpectedly good in "The Hot Chick" and she follows that up here with an inspired comic performance. Her delivery is far more funny than her actual lines.Ultimately Bettis gives us a character you find believable, sympathetic, and terrifying. What makes her performance absolutely unique and special is that she does this while also providing multiple moments of humorous self-parody.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

This in not a typical horror film at all, while some reviewers call it a slasher film, I think that's an undeserved title. In a such a film, the conflict is introduced early on, and the rest of the film consists of putting teenagers in harms way. In this film; however, the bulk of the story is spent on watching this young woman's world crumble apart. A concept that's foreshadowed by her doll confined to a box. Many compare this to "Carrie" also. Which is sort of true, but May has no super powers. No pranks are conspired against her, and her wrath is directed mostly at very specific people for a specific purpose rather than it exploding all over everybody who was in her presence when she snapped. The comparison falls apart when you take that in consideration. Another reviewer who rated this film poorly said that he suspected that all the high reviews were by people who spent their adolescence going "Woe is me." There may be some truth to that, but it's probably also true that the negative reviews are from pretentious narcissists who like to tear people down to hide their own flaws. My point being is that they say that your perception is your reality. The viewer brings some unknown variables to any creative work. So only certain kinds of people will be able comprehend May's reality. Unless you have that certain something inside this will be entirely alien to you. Either you identify with May or the people she kills. In short, this is a movie about the misery that comes from the lack of social integration and the trials of trying to find love in a world that you don't fit in. It's a movie that's driven by story and characterization rather than buckets of blood and rubber guts.