Over the course of its 93 minutes, May intrepidly traverses between disturbing psychological horror, amusing satire, and profoundly sad character study — often simultaneously. Lucky McKee‘s sincere script and direction are anchored by a raw, career-making performance from Angela Bettis.
Bettis stars as the titular character, a mousy, socially inept veterinary assistant desperate to fit in. She quickly falls for the only man to ever notice her, Adam (Jeremy Sisto, Wrong Turn). The handsome cinephile is endeared by her eccentricities at first, but her growing obsession sours their relationship before it has a chance to blossom.
It’s not until the final act of the movie that May decides to take it upon herself to create the perfect companion using her favorite parts of other people. At that point, no one in May’s orbit — from seductive coworker Polly (Anna Faris, Scary Movie) to kinky street punk Blank (James Duval, Donnie Dark) — is safe from her wrath.
The film wears its Frankenstein inspiration on its sleeve — literally, as Duval’s character sports a tattoo of the creature on his shoulder — but May serves as a conduit for both Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. She’s the unstable mastermind playing God, yet she also earns the audience’s sympathy as a misunderstood villain. May’s unhinged loneliness also echoes that of Taxi Driver‘s Travis Bickle.
May has joined the Vestron Video Collector’s Series on Blu-ray through Lionsgate Limited with new cover art by Matt Ryan Tobin. Like the company’s recent You’re Next release, the disc includes all the new special features produced for Second Sight’s UK release.
Eight new interviews are included: McKee, Sisto, Duval, director of photography Steve Yedlin, editors Rian Johnson (who, of course, went on to helm Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Knives Out), Chris Sivertson, and Kevin Ford, and composer Jammes Luckett. Many of the subjects are longtime collaborators who honed their crafts together in film school, making their reflections more ardent than the typical colleagues who worked together once decades ago.
Other new extras include: From Frankenstein to May, a visual essay in which Dr. Miranda Corcoran explores the parallels between the two works; Bits and Pieces: On the Set of May, comprised of 15 minutes of fly-on-the-wall footage from the production; and an astute audio commentary by film critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. Although she gets a little lost in the weeds regarding the semantics of feminism, she also opens up about her adult autism diagnosis and the interpretation of May as a neurodivergent character.
Two archival commentaries from the DVD release are ported over: one with McKee, Yedlin, Sivertson, Bettis, and actors Nichole Hiltz and Bret Roberts, and another with McKee, Johnson, Luckett, production designer Leslie Keel, and “craft services guy” Benji. These kinds of group tracks can often devolve in pandemonium, but McKee keeps both informative without sacrificing the natural camaraderie among the participants.
May predates, but would fit in alongside, the “good for her” cinematic movement of films like Gone Girl, Midsommar, and Promising Young Woman. Like those complicated yet cathartic works, the 2002 effort has stood the test of time as a true cult classic.
May is available now on Blu-ray.
The post ‘May’ Blu-ray Review – Lucky McKee’s 2002 Movie Stands the Test of Time as a True Cult Classic appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
