It's Gonna Be May(Day)

by Jason Adams

Heads-up on a movie that should be on your radars if it isn't already -- I saw director Karen Cinorre's debut film Mayday at Sundance back in February, and it's a fascinating feminist spin on the War Film starring a slew of super up-and-comer actresses, including personal beloveds Grace Van Patten (so great on Nine Perfect Strangers right now) and Mia Goth (oh how we love Mia Goth). Oh and Juliette Lewis is there too? Indeed she is! Here's a little of what I said about Mayday in February:

"Mayday... is plenty aware of... the limitations in adopting masculine ideas of violence and revenge. But unlike something like Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch, which Mayday feels like an explicit rebuke of, there's no fetishization of girls play-acting tough guy roles -- their past wounds don't become level-up Barbie-costumes that wrap their sexual assaults in pleather bustier pseudo-feminist bullshit. These women's fuck-ups feel genuine, earned and experienced -- they've left more emotional marks than they have sexy thigh scars or pretty painted bruises -- while their baggy fatigues just make for a practical place to wipe off dude-gore."

Read the rest (which dives into some themes I saw percolating across several female-directed pictures at Sundance) here. Mayday is out on October 1st, and here's the trailer to get you hyped:

Comments

[Kris]

I didn't like it. Nothing to do with feminism and thinking that it's cool when girls are having fun with the action genre that usually is carried by men, but I thought it had too much fighting for my taste, felt kind of forced and the storyline kind of stupid fairytale... While watching it, I thought it's maybe for the teens. But tastes can be (and good that they are) very different. Also my expectations were maybe too high because Juliette and Mia are in it.

[thevoid99]

This looks cool and I'm happy Mia Goth is getting some attention as she is an awesome actress and please, keep that piece of shit Shia LaBeouf away from her.