May (film)

May is a 2002 American psychological horror film written and directed by Lucky McKee in his directorial debut. Starring Angela Bettis, Jeremy Sisto, Anna Faris, and James Duval, the film follows a lonely young woman (Bettis) traumatized by a difficult childhood, and her increasingly desperate attempts to connect with the people around her.

Plot
May Dove Canady is a 28-year-old woman, who suffered from a troubled childhood due to her lazy eye. She has very little social interactions, her only "true friend" being a glass-encased doll named Suzie made by her mother and given to May for her birthday with the adage "If you can't find a friend, make one." May works at a veterinary hospital, assisting with surgeries. Her optometrist fixes May's lazy eye, first with glasses, then with contact lens. May becomes friends with Adam, a local mechanic. She has a fixation on his hands, which she considers to be the most attractive part of him, and they start dating. May's lesbian colleague, Polly, begins to flirt with May. One day, May remarks that Polly has a beautiful neck. They become friends, and Polly gives her pet cat Lupe.

May invites Adam to her apartment and he shows her a film that he made for his university titled Jack and Jill. The film reveals a story of two young lovers, who go on a picnic, and end up eating each other. May becomes aroused by the cannibalism in the film. During an intense make-out session, she bites Adam on the lip, and it bleeds. Disturbed by her suspicious behavior, Adam abruptly leaves. May shouts at Suzie and shoves her in the cupboard. She begins volunteering at a school for blind children. She gives in to Polly's wishes and starts a short affair. Adam stops calling her and May overhears him say that he is glad he could get rid of her. Heartbroken, she visits Polly, and finds her with another girl named Ambrosia. When even Lupe refuses to come near her, May becomes enraged and kills Lupe. She becomes delusional, and believes that Suzie is talking to her.

May takes Suzie to school and tells the blind children that Suzie is her best friend. The children struggle to take the doll out of the glass case, and the case shatters. May and the children are cut by the broken glass. Scooping up the ruined doll, May returns home devastated. The following day, she meets a punk boy named Blank. He asks her if she wants to get some candy with him, and she accepts. May does not admire him very much, but likes the tattoo on his arm. At her house, Blank finds the cat's corpse, and calls May a freak. In retaliation, May stabs Blank in the head.

On Halloween night, May dresses in a homemade costume resembling Suzie, and goes to Polly's house. She slits Polly's throat. When Ambrosia arrives, May admires her legs, and stabs Ambrosia. Next, she kills Adam and his new girlfriend, Hoop. At home, she designs her "new friend", Amy (an anagram of her own name), a life-sized patchwork doll made from Blank's arms, Polly's neck, Adam's hands, Ambrosia's legs, and Hoop's ears. She uses Lupe's fur for the hair. The head and torso are stuffed fabric stitched together. May realizes that Amy has no eyes, and cannot "see" her, so she gouges out her lazy eye, fatally injuring herself. Crying in pain and bleeding, she puts her eye on Amy's head and begs the doll to look at her. She collapses dead on the bed beside the doll, and caresses it. Her creation comes to life, and brushes her face affectionately with Adam's hands.

Cast

 * Angela Bettis as May Dove Canady
 * Chandler Riley Hecht as young May
 * Jeremy Sisto as Adam Stubbs
 * Anna Faris as Polly
 * Nichole Hiltz as Ambrosia
 * James Duval as Blank
 * Ken Davitian as Foreign Doctor
 * Kevin Gage as Papa Canady
 * Merle Kennedy as Mama Canady
 * Rachel David as Petey David
 * Nora Zehetner as Hoop
 * Will Estes as Chris, Adam's roommate

Soundtrack
May also features a score and original songs by Jaye Barnes Luckett of the rock group Poperratic (then known as Alien Tempo Experiment 13).

Additional artists on the soundtrack include The Breeders, The Kelley Deal 6000, H Is Orange, Strangels, Thrill My Wife, The Wedding's Off, Angelo Metz, and Tommy James and the Shondells.

Some of Luckett's music from the film was released on the 2007 CD May and Other Selected Works of Jaye Barnes Luckett by La-La Land Records.

Release
May was given a limited theatrical release to nine theaters in North America. By the end of its run, the film has grossed $150,277 during its theatrical run.

Critical reception
The film received favorable reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 69% of 64 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.2 out of 10. On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 58 based on 18 reviews.

Critics praised the film for its unique feel while also complimenting its brutality through the eyes of someone who is so caught up in their own fantasy of sorts. Bettis' performance was also praised. Roger Ebert granted the film four stars out of four, and called it "a horror film and something more and deeper, something disturbing and oddly moving" and characterized the denouement 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". The New York 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".

In 2006, the Chicago Film Critics Association named May the 61st scariest film ever made.

Bloody Disgusting ranked the film #17 in their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', with the article calling the film "criminally under-seen at the time of its release... The plotting itself manages to sidestep the usual slasher tropes as it slowly and inexorably unravels, all leading up to a quietly haunting conclusion that is as heart-wrenching as it is unnerving."

Awards

 * Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film:
 * Best Actress: Angela Bettis
 * Sitges - Catalan International Film Festival:
 * Best Actress: Angela Bettis
 * Best Screenplay: Lucky McKee
 * Gérardmer Film Festival:
 * Premiere Award: Lucky McKee
 * Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema:
 * Best Actress: Angela Bettis
 * Best Film: Lucky McKee
 * Best Screenplay: Lucky McKee
 * Youth Jury Award- Best Feature Film: Lucky McKee

Inspiration
Lucky McKee has stated that "MAY wouldn't exist if it weren't for Amanda Plummer's character in THE FISHER KING."