review: May

This is an odd film, so that’s a plus for me right away. However, I must be honest, I am a bit on the fence regarding how I feel about this one (and that is a rarity for me with film), so I will explicate the good and bad as best I can on May, and go from there. THE BAD: In many ways, this motion picture seeks to be in the vein of Welcome to the Dollhouse, but few writers or directors can match the genius of Todd Solondz and Lucky McKee is not one of those few. The acting, also, is quite bad and looks, at times, like a dreadful high school play. Not to mention, the plot is particularly spongy and therefore unbelievable. THE GOOD: The awfully poor acting can easily be excused as camp given the narrative context, so that almost magically renovates the performances from dramatic disappointments to spot on rescue. Furthermore, the personalities (especially the title character, May) are far more interesting than the average film. In addition, the fact that the Adam character tries to be “scary” to a genuinely demented May is hilarious and good biting sarcasm. I was surprised to find possible metaphors lurking within the holes of the porous plotline. (For example, take note of how the story changes when May cracks the glass on the case which separates her from the physical touch of her doll and as the glass cracks more and more, her true nature is realized). So… every doll escapes its case and I guess that is made very obvious here … perhaps too obvious All of that being said, this is a borderline film which lies just on the side of above average filmmaking, and I would have to say that I liked it overall.