Hey folks, Harry here... MAY is opening this weekend in Los Angeles, so if the big green CG guy isn't your thing, perhaps MAY maybe. You folks in L.A. have probably noticed the publicity of MAY there is resembling that of a fart at a dinner table, but that's just the rather unfortunate lack of support that LionsGate seems to be giving it. Amazing that the film doesn't do better when you have zero national publicity, no talk show work, no billboards, no tv time... Oh well, you guys know about the film... Get out there and support it, you'll love it if you give it half a chance. Here's J-Man...
Hi, Harry. After raves by everyone over there at AICN + Roger Ebert's glowing 4-star, I have been anticipating seeing MAY it feels like forever now. Even the box office attendee told me the movie "rocks" as I was buying a ticket. Just thought I'd give up my two cents worth...
As a child, May had a "lazy" eye. The only consolation mom offered was an eyepatch and a doll never to be removed from its glass case, along with words of encouragement, "If you can't find a friend, make one." As a young adult, May takes more corrective steps toward her one eye problem, and in doing so readies herself for a real, non-enclosed relationship. For once.
Angela Bettis plays the older version of May as an awkward girl whose mind never quite followed her body out of childhood. Uncomfortable in her own skin, with just a modicum of normalcy at her disposal. Enough to realize she's a certain way, get by and hope for the best. She's an extreme noticer of the attractive parts of people, without it mattering the person him or herself, and will sit and stare and obsess. She's the kind of person you're not sure what to make of at first or what you're getting yourself into with; a little off, but harmless and kind of cute, actually. You're intrigued by her, but could just as easily want to avoid her at all costs. Lucky McKee's film is smart to place this character opposite individuals off-beat in their own right, rather than perfectly normal and together.
Adam (Jeremy Sisto) shows May his student film, which involves cannibalism, and she wraps his arm around her romantically. Later, as they are about to make love, she bites his lip and wipes his subsequent bleeding on her face; "like in your movie". He says at one point he likes wierd a lot, but there's a line and it doesn't take long to get crossed. Polly (Anna Faris) works with May at a local veterinary clinic, and also takes a shine to her co-workers strange disposition. She invites May over to "eat some melons, or something", there is sex, but it's on to the next "opportunity" for Polly. If May is bad dealing with relationships in general, she's even worse with rejection.
This is the best portrait of crazy-and-dealing-with-it since Lodge Kerrigan's CLEAN, SHAVEN. Bettis is controlled and note perfect in every scene; actually, she gets better and more convincing nearer the end (that whole sequence with her wheeling the ice chest from house to house has an odd, albeit disturbing, poignancy to it). We sense May has a wackjob side to her, but have no idea the full extent of it. It's tucked away, just off in the peripheral. She has a habit of making sure people are okay with her wierdness -- -- not just her whole entire disposition, but things like yelling at her doll when things go wrong, or keeping her dead kitty in the freezer -- making sure they accept it, before continuing with them; sex, of course, is the surest way to know. I liked the portentious exchange with Polly, just before their intimacy: "Are you serious about me?" "Dead."
What a closely observed, dead-on character study.
-- J-Man
