May (2003)

 

Director Lucky McKee's feature debut gets a whistles and bells Blu-ray release from Second Sight.

May (Angela Bettis) has always been socially awkward, not helped by her suffering a lazy eye as a child which led to bullying. She's desperate to make at least one friend but doesn't know how to go about it. Getting a job as a veterinarian's assistant introduces her to Polly (Anna Faris), and soon she's also beginning a stuttering relationship with film-maker Adam (Jeremy Sisto). But her awkwardness and inability to deal with the complexities of human behaviour leads to gory tragedy.

MAY is a sharp, smart, decidedly quirky piece which premiered at Sundance in the US and Dead By Dawn here in the UK. Its success is rooted in a strong central performance from Bettis, ably assisted by the actors around her. McKee's direction lends the film a (seemingly unknowing according to the director in an interview on this disc) sense of sick, uncomfortable humour that, combined with all the above, means MAY deservedly fits the appellation of cult classic.

Second Sight have served the film well in terms of extras, giving us no less than three commentary tracks - one academic from Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and two featuring cast and crew including McKee on both.

Other extras include interviews with McKee (25 minutes), Sisto (11 minutes), actor James Duval (17 minutes), coeditor Rian Johnson (yes KNIVES OUT Rian Johnson - 19 minutes), DP Steve Yedin (13 minutes), composer Jammes Luckett (24 minutes) and coeditors Chris Siverton (21 minutes) and Kevin Ford (17 minutes). From Frankenstein to May is a 21 minute video essay by Miranda Corcoran and you also get 15 minutes of behind the scenes footage. Finally there's a 70 page book, art cards, and a rigid slipcase to keep it all in.

Lucky McKee's MAY is out in both limited and standard edition Blu-ray sets on Monday 24th July 2023