May Details

Misfit Power!

May Canady was born with a lazy eye, forced by her mother to wear a 'pirate' eye patch to cover up the disfigurement. Unpopular with other children, she is given a 'friend' for her birthday - a doll in a glass case called Soozy.

Some years later, the 20-something May is still relying on the doll for friendship, until she decided to find a 'real' friend. She spies Adam - an auto mechanic - liking his hands in particular. This proves to be a failing with May, as she cannot seem to find a whole person she likes, only parts thereof. And, she's a pretty nifty seamstress.....

Her freaky behaviour eventually scares Adam away and she becomes involved with Polly - a lesbian secretary from the local animal hospital where May works as a veterinary assistant.. Suffice to say, this goes sour as well. And all the time May is slowly unravelling mentally. The final straw comes as she causes an unfortunate accident with some local blind kids. So now the only way May is to get her valued friend is to make it herself.

This delightful low-budget film is not really a horror movie at all, although it does get rather horrific towards the end. It's more to do with the study of a lonely woman, one of those people who just sort of falls through the cracks and gets ignored by society. Driven by a wonderful performance by Angela Bettis (Bless The Child, Girl Interrupted), this film comes highly recommended.

[Highly rated reviewer]

May

If you can't find a friend, make one. Advice that May's (Bettis) mother gave her as a child and that May has taken to heart, making dolls all her life.

Socially awkward she makes the aquaintance of horror movie fan Adam (Sisto), drawn to the odd girl, despite her obsession with his hands he becomes her first boyfriend.

When he ends the relationship May becomes determined to make herself a new friend.

May is one of those films I like better every time I see it. A strange combination of comedy, romance and horror film it deftly plays with genre and manages to be by turns touching, scary and funny.

Perhaps the best assett of the film is an astonishing performance from lead Angela Bettis. In her first role to come to any great notice she's totally natural as she portrays May's social awkwardness (at times the character can seem almost borderline autistic) she builds audience sympathy for May so that when there's a turn in the character late in the film you stay with her to a degree.

Supporting performances from Jeremy Sisto, a fine actor who always brings both a strong performance and an everyman quality which makes him easy to empathise with to a role, is teriffic as Adam. It's Anna Faris who threatens to steal the movie though. As Bettis' lesbian co-worker she's an absolute riot, showcasing comic timing that should shame the Scary Movie team for the shoddy material they've given her and real chemistry with Bettis.

Lucky McKee's direction is spot on, he uses gore particularly well, never drenching the film in blood but not cutting around the nasty stuff either and he builds a creepy atmosphere well, particularly in May and Adam's dates. Most wonderful though are the very last few frames, a touch more surreal than the rest of the film but a perfect fit for it and both surprising and touching. A highly recommended film.