May (2002)

Whoa! I'm speechless! May is one weird, fun, funny, sad, and disturbing film. It's just so many things. It's a strangely beautiful character study about a lonely girl who just wants a friend. I couldn't help but feel for her. She's weird and shy, but in a cute, sweet way. I was intrigued by her, and wanted her to find happiness. No matter how pathetic her character would become, I just couldn't stop caring. I wanted to reach out to her, and be her friend. Nobody deserves to be so lonely. All she needed was a friend. But things just don't exactly work out that way. Once she began to crack and take the plunge into madness, it was understandable how it could happen. That doesn't mean that the events that unfolded weren't shocking, because they definitely were. But we see why our heroine does what she does. We can't help but want things to be different though, and for her to go down a different path, but when she doesn't, we come along for the ride anyway, following her wherever she takes us.

Angela Bettis gives an amazing performance as May. So far this is the best female performance of the year, and when the end of the year comes, if it's still not THE best, it will be one of THE best. She makes us care about her character from the beginning, and we never really stop, even when she goes psychotic. Bettis shows so many emotions, and makes us feel all kinds of things. She was very natural, and sometimes her body language spoke to us more than her words. We just knew what she was feeling, and could feel her cracking more and more as the movie went on. She was sweet, sad, scary, pathetic, and yet strangely attractive. It's too bad the Academy are such prudes, because this girl is so deserving of an Oscar nomination that it's not even funny. Unfortunately, it's obvious her performance will be overlooked by them. May just isn't "Oscar material." Plus, the movie didn't make enough money and isn't well known enough for them to even consider honoring anything to do with "May." But even if they don't honor it, the fans will always remember it. I've seen Bettis in other movies, but after seeing this, I will always remember her as May... I've always been a fan of the underrated Anna Faris. She's a great comedic actress. I found her to be a lot of fun as Polly. She's funny and sexy. This is sure to be one of my favorite supporting performances of the year. Faris was a welcome addition to this twisted little film.

Writer/Director Lucky McKee proves to be a great new talent. It's hard to believe this is his first feature film. Very impressive if you ask me. I'm looking forward to whatever he does next. If it's anything as wonderful as "May," then it should be great... Also deserving of a mention is composer Jaye Barnes-Luckett. She does a terrific job here, always providing the right music at the right moment. If she keeps this up, she'll have a bright future ahead of her.

I'm still blown away by this film. There's so many praises I have for it, that I doubt I could remember to mention them all. It's original, well acted, well written, well directed, etc... It's just twistedly wonderful. It's too bad it wasn't given a better release in theaters, but it's not exactly a mainstream movie either. It still deserved better than what it got. At least I can find comfort in knowing that it's sure to become a cult classic. Word of mouth will help it a lot. It's definitely not for everyone though. It's weird, morbid, quirky, wicked, and gutsy. It doesn't shy away from much. In fact, it has one of the best and most realistic slit throats I've ever witnessed on screen. But don't let that scare you, it's definitely worth a look for any horror fan, or any film fan in general. I'm proud to have this haunting film as a part of my collection. It's simply A-MAY-ZING!

Grade: 9/10 (A-)