May... or May not

[Remo D]

How exactly to weigh in on this one, which I finally caught up to on DVD (the "limited" release never got near me).

So much to recommend--Angela Bettis certainly gives one of the performances of the year (she's the only real reason why a remake of CARRIE for TV worked at all). And there's a character who makes gory student films and has a shrine to Dario Argento. And when the gore flies--it FLIES.

So much to love--but I hope you're not looking for something at all "fun." MAY is neither a procedural building up to an expected finale, nor a typical "worm turns" revenge film, either. Bettis plays an EXTREMELY lonely little girl who grows up into an EXTREMELY lonely young lady. Her "lazy eye" (and consequential eyepatch) brand her an outcast at an early age, and her only friend is a doll her mother made a long time ago. She has the hots for a guy she spots... and her lesbian co-worker (Anna Faris) at the veterinary hospital has the hots for her... but May finds herself only attracted to certain--aspects--of people.

It's an extremely sad and depressing descent into madness--it's beautifully done, and Bettis really does deserve an award for her performance--but this one leaves you feeling horrible rather than thrilled, as it's not even close to being typically "scary."

Still--you can't ignore it!

[FOG]

I rented it, but fell asleep. Some of it was ok though... It kind of had the same feel as Office Killer, at least, what I saw did...

Luckily, I didn't miss the James Duval scenes. Nice hair. (har har)

[ROBERT]

I rented it, but fell asleep.

Same thing happened to me, about 40 minutes in. I gave it another try, later. It's overrated. If you follow this one's praise you'd think it was tantamount to the next coming of indie horror or something. I agree with all of what Shane recommends in the film but May herself develops into such an overt needy freak later on, the sympathy you had for her in the first half all but disappears. I couldn't relate, from then on. As a result I didn't find it particularly sad and depressing. The ending did come accross as a little hokey to me, even though it was gratifying that May got what she wanted.

[Latte Thunder]

This movie is really hit or miss, it seems. Everyone I've talked to about it either fell asleep, hated it or loved it. I'm in the latter group. I really liked it. I have some problems with it but I think that it really shows potential for that director, Lucky McKee was it?

I'll be interested to see what they turn out next.