Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Nordling’s one of our regular chatters, and as pure a film lover as I know. When he falls for something, he gives himself up to it completely, and it looks like that’s happened with Lucky McKee’s outstanding MAY. Check this out...
Nordling here, recovering nicely from BNAT, thanks for asking.
I'm not going to write a full-blown BNAT review, mostly for the main reason that it will be better said by others later on. Suffice to say it was a freaking blast and I can't wait for next year, if I'm so lucky. All the films were great, save one mediocre one and one pretty bad one, but I'm not into talking about those. No, what I want to write about is about a lovely girl named May.
MAY is the directorial debut of Lucky McKee. Get a notepad. Write that name down. You'll be seeing it again, because I think he may be the most accomplished horror director to come down the road since Guillermo Del Toro. I don't know what's on his plate next, but be assured I will be there.
I think MAY is the finest and most original horror debut since THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Now, I loved BWP. I know many do not. MAY is in no way similar, either in tone, style, or mood. So don't let that last statement throw you off if you're a BLAIR hater. I'm just saying that because I don't really know any horror film that has impressed me as much since BWP except this one.
The opening credits set the mood. Titles appear, and the film's title appears like a quilt. Then, the first shot. A woman, screaming, in the mirror, clutching her right eye as it weeps blood. My wife was sitting next to me when that shot appeared and I felt her flinch. I think the whole audience did. It's a perfect opening shot, because it sets a tension throughout the film, knowing you'll be seeing it again, except with context.
May is an introverted little girl. There are snippets of her childhood, but you get the idea that her childhood was much like Cameron Fry's in FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF, except that May doesn't have a Ferris in her life. May has a lazy eye and is forced to wear an eye patch, ostracizing her from the other kids. Her mother has May cover her eye with her hair to make friends, but sadly she doesn't.
One day her mother gives her a porcelain doll that she had as a child. The doll is in a pine box, and May is told she can never take it out, but since she doesn't have any real friends she could have a "fake" one. This doll creeped the audience out. People might suspect a "killer doll." However, this film has something much more sinister in mind.
May (Angela Bettis, in one of the best performances by a woman I've ever seen in a horror film) grows up to be a very attractive but quiet woman. She has a job at the animal clinic, helping the veterinarian patch up wounded animals. She lives alone sewing her outfits, and talking to her doll. She seems eccentric at worst; however her relationship with her doll seems to be degrading. May wears corrective contacts to fix her lazy eye.
Also working with May at the clinic is Polly (Anna Faris) who seems to be a little interested in May in more than a friendly way. "You have a beautiful neck," May tells Polly, and Polly takes that in a different way than May intended. May is very naive about people and relationships, and places too much stock on appearances.
May sees Adam (Jeremy Sisto) at a car repair shop and quietly begins watching him. "You have beautiful hands," she tells him early on. Once they interact a relationship begins. "You probably think I'm weird," says May. "I like weird," Adam tells her. Unfortunately Adam, a budding filmmaker, has no idea just how weird May is.
May slowly comes to the realization that "real" people don't hold much water compared to the relationship she seems to have with her porcelain doll. And it's at this point in the film where the horror slowly comes into play. It's a slow grip, but by the end of it you are left breathless. It would be very uncool of me to go further with the plot, but the opening shot of the film lets you know that all does not go well for our May.
I think this film is going to get much comparison to AMELIE, but where AMELIE is light, MAY is very, very dark. The last 45 minutes of the film are a descent into madness and terror, and my wife flat out didn't watch the last bit of this film. I never knew my wife to be unnerved by a movie before.
This film was a breath of fresh air to a genre that hasn't gotten the best acknowledgement from critics in the past few years. Personally, I think this is a banner time for horror films. Between this, THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE, and THE RING and what's going on in Japanese cinema right now, the pickings are great. I think the genre here in America needs a swift kick in the ass, and Lucky McKee is the man to administer that kick. I'm telling you, look out for this guy. If he goes onward and upward from MAY, he's got a long career ahead.
This film can be overhyped, so I'm going to stop now. But if the audience of BNAT is any indication, if this film opens wide horror fans are in for a treat. I've seldom seen or felt an audience squirm like they did in the last 20 minutes of the film. This is brilliant stuff. Don't pass this up, horror fans.
Nordling, out.
Thanks, buddy, and it sure was nice to meet the missus at BNAT this year. See you for the next one before we even know it.
"Moriarty" out.
