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In preparation for Halloween I was mentally thumbing through my favorite horror films and decided that Lucky McKee's May was overdue for a revisit. I was surprised to not find a thread for it here, or hardly even a mention, and would love to know what others think of this strange and engaging movie.

Although May's titular leading lady, played to bone-chilling pitch-perfection by Angela Bettis, stands in the same pantheon as such deeply damaged cinematic girls as Carrie and Repulsion's Carol the film is pretty unique, an unsettling concoction of tones and genres. It starts out as an inky black comedy where we're almost invited to laugh at May's assortment of tics and issues both emotional and physical but as the movie edges into its gruesome final act (an ending long seen coming but still no less effective) the viewer's assessment of May becomes a melange of conflicting feelings...I'm not quite comfortable with the pity and sympathy I have for her, but those feelings are there all the same. May is a girl who is too weird for the movie's microcosm of society that ostensibly wallows in oddity and the macabre but understands the difference between appreciating it from a safe distance, and the horror being internalized. Its heartbreaking to see May encouraged, embraced..."I LOVE weird!", they all say... and then immediately turned out as a freak the moment that she thinks she's finally made a profound connection. But then again, they're right.... May's pretty damn scary.

I think on the whole it's a highly enjoyable, blackly funny film (Anna Faris is particularly hilarious in this) but after it's over it leaves me with a dark sadness and sympathy for the poor demented girl who just wanted a friend, which is quite a feat. Many horror films can scare you but not many can make you care.

Does it have any other fans here?

I tried watching this years ago, but the scene with the blind kids was too much. By the way has anyone seen the brother film Roman?

I have, and while Bettis is certainly not terrible in the director's chair and McKee is servicable in the lead role, it's a short film concept stretched to feature length. Though the ending is quite upsetting and unique.

I love May. It's one of the most original and surprising films to come out of the independent circuit last decade, and deserves all the admiration and cult status that lesser films like Donnie Darko and Napoleon Dynamite received.

Have you seen May, TWBB? While not as baroque in its depiction, its my go-to example of a film successfully and sympathetically inhabiting the subjectivity of a psychologically disturbed, socially isolated woman descending into a full blown psychotic episode. (Sorry for hissing like a snake all through that! So much alliteration...). A good one for the horror project. It’ll probably make my list.

Mr Sausage wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 1:51 pm Have you seen May, TWBB? While not as baroque in its depiction, its my go-to example of a film successfully and sympathetically inhabiting the subjectivity of a psychologically disturbed, socially isolated woman descending into a full blown psychotic episode. (Sorry for hissing like a snake all through that! So much alliteration...). A good one for the horror project. It’ll probably make my list.

Wow, that sounds right up my alley! I actually had this one on reserve from reading through mfunk's rec in the Detention thread, but this brings it up a few notches in priority watching.

Let Roger Ebert's 4 star review do the rest of the work

Sadly, McKee's career has really stalled out since, though The Woman is worth a look too, for all its flaws

I haven't seen it in years, but I adored May back in my Renting Everything That Looks Weird from the New Releases Section at Blockbuster youth... Pleased to see it pop us as a recommendation all these years later. Someone made off with my DVD and I've kinda hoped/assumed one of those labels I only pay glancing attention to would rescue it with an absurdly deluxe edition at some point...

I wound up not having the constitution to argue with people over movies they hadn't seen in the original Horror List project (see that thread for much melting down, if my memory serves), but my spotlight of this film and subsequent users catching up with it is a nice legacy to have left from that experiment - and a recent viewing confirms that it still holds up very well. And that Anna Faris is a national treasure who never quite got the star vehicle she deserved. And don't get me started on Angela Bettis.

Senseabove, I'm not sure how amenable you are to digital purchasing vs disc, but the film is available in 1080p via streaming. Not an ideal solution, but for films like this and Birth and some others that are in that DVD-only purgatory, it's better than nothing.

mfunk9786 wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 7:05 pm Anna Faris is a national treasure who never quite got the star vehicle she deserved.

Well now I might have to resort to alternative methods to see this immediately, totally agree on Faris and even mentioning her name triggers some nostalgic source that needs a fix

I totally see her succeeding later on in supporting roles like Allison Janey.

Are you saying that because they're in that show together?

I didn't know that. I just think they have similar comedic energy even if different personas.

therewillbeblus wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 7:56 pm

mfunk9786 wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 7:05 pm Anna Faris is a national treasure who never quite got the star vehicle she deserved.

Well now I might have to resort to alternative methods to see this immediately, totally agree on Faris and even mentioning her name triggers some nostalgic source that needs a fix

It's only $7.99 to buy digitally right now from YouTube, iTunes, Vudu, Microsoft, and Google.

knives wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 8:06 pm I didn't know that.

I don't believe you. The degree of coincidence is much too powerful.

Okay?

My writeup from the Horror List

domino harvey wrote: Tue Sep 11, 2012 7:53 pm
May (Lucky McKee 2002) --mfunk9786 Spotlight-- Fascinating and slickly-made character study of a deeply damaged young woman whose social awkwardness and anxieties have rendered her not just cracked but shattered-- and as the film's visual metaphor explains, you can't glue a thousand shards of glass back into a display case anymore than May can be helped. As the film barrels deeper and deeper into the psychosis of the titular character, it only bolsters the empathy of the viewer to this poor woman who was probably beyond help long before the rejections and alienations pushed her over the edge. Credit to Angela Bettis for her striking portrayal and McKee for his sure hand in letting the downslide unfold towards its inevitable yet weirdly sweet culmination. Great Spotlight, mfunk (and LQ, I presume), this is a film I would not have sought out on my own

therewillbeblus wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 6:36 pm

Mr Sausage wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 1:51 pm Have you seen May, TWBB? While not as baroque in its depiction, its my go-to example of a film successfully and sympathetically inhabiting the subjectivity of a psychologically disturbed, socially isolated woman descending into a full blown psychotic episode. (Sorry for hissing like a snake all through that! So much alliteration...). A good one for the horror project. It’ll probably make my list.

Wow, that sounds right up my alley! I actually had this one on reserve from reading through mfunk's rec in the Detention thread, but this brings it up a few notches in priority watching.

At the risk of inaugurating another thread split, definitely throw in Marina de Van's In My Skin to your pile of troubled-woman-descending-into-mental-breakdown films. It's a more disturbing, body-centric horror film than May, more clinical in its observations, and sees human psychology as at bottom unfathomable. May is firmly in the camp of trying to empathize with disordered thinking and the pain it causes the sufferer.

That one is currently only held at one library in the minuteman network, and it happens to be the one in the town I work. Leaving now to get it - thanks!

Tell you what, if you’d like to nominate 2 horrors for me to watch and comment on in the Horror list thread, I’m down for a kind of swapsie thing.

Vox Lux and The Young Pope

mfunk9786 wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 10:15 pm Vox Lux and The Young Pope

I'm still waiting for the other 12 people who voted for Vox Lux to chime in! Thank you Sausage for doing so even though you didn't vote for it, and I'm down - I'll think on it and get back to you!

Just as an FYI, May has had a Blu-ray release for over a year now. There were three limited edition variants and one standard edition, all region free and still available through amazon.de https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/May-Blu-ray/223414/ I own one of the variant covers and the movie itself is a nice upgrade over the DVD.

Oh wow, thank you!!

mfunk9786 wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 7:03 pm
Sadly, McKee's career has really stalled out since, though The Woman is worth a look too, for all its flaws

I remember The Woman as being great because it was flawed; something that ugly should always be riddled with asterisks and questionable taste. It's probably even more problematic now, and possibly even better? Though the lead actor's GW Bush impersonation would need a Queens makeover. Lock her up, lock her up. Shudder.

I really liked May too and Angela Bettis of course is the mother in The Woman

Spoiler

her death really shocked me but I guess she was complicit in tolerating her husband's behaviour, even though she was clearly disgusted by it

.

Apparently Pollyana McIntosh has directed a sequel....