May

A film that has diametrically different ratings on Filmbooster and IMDB, and that in foreign horror websites appears at the top of the ratings for 2000, while here almost nobody has paid attention to it. The truth, as usual, lies somewhere between both extremes. Even if it doesn’t seem so at first, May is a pretty difficult film to grasp. The biggest mistake is to expect teenage horror, in which case you’ll never get it. No, this is a psychological drama with many allegorical elements and an abstract plot, and that’s why the performances don’t need to be great (except May’s), nor does the behaviour of the other characters need to be logical. Or put another way, the negative aspects of this film aren’t actually so, they are subjective negative perceptions of neutral phenomena – or if they see it, they see it and if they don’t, you’ll never explain it to them. (28.12.2009)

Carrie with no supernatural abilities, a psychological film acted perfectly, one of the most tragic and most sad lead characters ever... That is what we get with May. A perfect film composed of many seemingly disparate parts (hehe). It’s perfect. I mean it. It's perversely funny in places, a bloody horror in others, especially towards the end (but funny too), but first and foremost it's still a film about a disturbed girl who tried so hard to be normal and wanted so badly to live a normal life that nothing good could come of it. I really wanted May, played by Angela Bettis (an incredible chameleon), to finally get it right one day and I felt so sorry for her, but at the same time I was curious to see what people would do to her and then what she would do to them. That's how cleverly filmed it is. The directing is absolutely brilliant, with the camera changing almost every possible angle, and the fantastic soundtrack makes everything magically tragic. Don't expect a classic horror film or a classic psychological outsider story, expect a film that is quite possibly excellent. Five pure stars. (07.04.2013)