May (film)

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May

Movie poster for May
Directed by Lucky McKee
Produced by 2Loop Films
Written by Lucky McKee
Starring Angela Bettis
Music by Jaye Barnes Luckett
Cinematography Steven Y. Yedlin
Editing by Kevin Ford
Distributed by Lions Gate Films
Release date(s) 2002
Running time 93m
Language English
Budget $500,000 (estimated)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

May is a horror film released in 2002. It stars Angela Bettis, Anna Faris, and Jeremy Sisto, and was written and directed by Lucky McKee. It also features a memorable score and original songs by Jaye Barnes Luckett of the rock group Poperratic (then known as Alien Tempo Experiment 13).

Contents

[edit] Plot

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The plot revolves around an awkward, lonely young woman named May Dove Canady. She had a troubled childhood as her lazy eye kept her from feeling normal. Due to her condition, May's mother suggests an eye patch for her to wear. Unfortunately, this does nothing except encourage the other children to make fun of her. She has very few social interactions with people throughout her life; her only "true friend" is a doll inside a glass case named Susy that her mother made and gave to May for her birthday.

May works at a Veterinary Hospital, helping in surgery. As she attempts to interact with the people around her, she finds Adam, a local mechanic, and the perfect guy. May feels especially attracted to his hands. Adam finds her weird, but he feels attracted to her nonetheless so they start dating. At the same time, May has a brief fling with lesbian colleague Polly, who at times makes fun of her but feels turned on by May anyway. They make out a couple of times, in which May states that she especially likes Polly's neck.

One day Adam shows her a film he has made for university titled Jack and Jill, which tells the story of two young lovers who go on a picnic and end up actually eating each other. May gets aroused by that and while she's making out with Adam she bites him in the lip causing him to bleed. After this, Adam realizes she's too weird for him and leaves. May feels guilty and blames her doll Susy for encouraging her to do things wrong so she shouts at her and shoves her in the cupboard.

May starts working at a centre for disabled children looking after blind kids. She is especially interested in a lonely girl she feels identified with. The little girl also likes May so she gives her an ashtray made of clay.

Adam stops calling her so one day May goes to his house and accidentally eavesdrop him calling her a loony and saying he's glad he could get rid of her. Heartbroken, May goes to see Polly only to find that she's with another girl. At home, she's totally miserable and when her cat refuses to go near her, she bursts in anger and kills him throwing the ashtray the little girl had made for her.

The following day, she's sitting in a bench in the street when a punky boy named Blank sits besides her and talks to her. He becomes interested in her odd remarks about people not being entirely perfect but only having perfect "parts". May doesn't like him at first, but then says she likes the tattoo he has on his arm. They go to May's house and when he opens the freezer he finds the cat's corpse. Flabbergasted, he calls May a freak, something that infuriates her and makes her stab him in the head with a pair of scissors.

Later on, she goes to the school for blind kids and shows them her doll, telling them that that is her best friend. The children cannot see it, so they want to touch. May tries to put the doll away and struggles with the kids until the doll falls and the glass case shatters into pieces all around the floor, hurting the children's hands and legs.

At home, May is devastated at all the things that happened to her recently. Suddenly, she realizes that a perfect friend can only be made of all the perfect parts of the people she knows. Thus, on Halloween's night, she dresses up in a homemade costume similar to Susy's dress and goes to Polly's house. May also adopts a "normal" manner, very unlike her usual innocent, childlike behavior. She and Polly talk for a while until May pulls out a couple of scalpels and puts them in each side of Polly's neck. Polly laughs at her, stating that she knows that May would never hurt her until May actually starts cutting her neck, much to Polly's astonishment before dying. Then, Polly's lover, Ambrosia, arrives at the house. May admires her legs and asks her to turn around for her. Ambrosia accepts, not without calling her a freak first. After this, May stabs her in the head. Lastly, May goes to Adam's house. When she arrives there, she finds that Adam is with another girl called Buckle who lets May come in, much to Adam's annoyance. They sit at the table, and May asks Adam to touch her face. Adam refuses, something which leads into a discussion between May and Buckle. Finally, Adam decides to touch her in the cheek, at which point May stabs Buckle in the neck. Adam walks back and screams in horror, but May stabs him in the chest.

Back at home, May starts designing her "new friend". She uses Blank's arms, Polly's neck, Adam's hands and Ambrosia's legs. Also, it is noted that May made a comment about Buckle's earrings during the previously mentioned scene and the "new friend" is in fact sporting a pair of ears with earrings. Once the macabre doll, named Amy, is finished, she realizes that it can't actually see her. So, in a rush of misery, she gouges out her right eye (the lazy one) with the scissors. Crying in pain, she puts it on the head of the toy and leans her head against it. In a pre-death hallucination, May sees her friend suddenly come to life and caress her just as she dies. The movie ends with a gory jingle about eating children. Despite the dark subject matter, the tune is light and cheery, and the statements are veiled by comments about how "sweet" children are.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Deaths

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  • Cat: dies when an ashtray is thrown at her.
  • Blank: stabbed in the head with scissors. Arms removed.
  • Polly: Throat slit. Head removed from neck then neck removed from rest of body
  • Ambrosia: stabbed in the head with two scalpels. Legs severed.
  • Buckle: stabbed in the neck, then ears removed.
  • Adam: stabbed in the chest, then hands severed.
  • May: presumably dies when she gouges her own eye out.

[edit] Reception

Roger Ebert called the film "a horror film and something more and deeper, something disturbing and oddly moving" and characterized the dénouement as "a final shot that would get laughs in another kind of film, but "May" earns the right to it, and it works, and we understand it." Variety magazine critic David Rooney turned in a review that was more middle of the road, stating that the film was "More successful when the title character finally embarks on her bloody mission than in the dawdling buildup." NY Times critic Stephen Holden opined that "the performances are a cut or two above what you would find in the average slasher film. But in the end that's all it is."

The film has a "Fresh" rating (68%) among critics tallied at Rotten Tomatoes.

[edit] Awards

[edit] External links