May in the Summer

I see an awful lot of strange movies (OVERDOSE OF DEGRADATION (1970), anyone?) - horror, exploitation, science fiction, action, etc. It seems rare these days that I would sit still long enough to watch a film such as this. MAY isn't the kind of movie that I'm likely to slap in the DVD player. I'd have to be in the mood for it and that doesn't happen much. It would take an outside force for me to watch it and most of the time I would be better for it, ashamed of my reluctance.

This was the film that opened Sundance this year and I can see why. Dabis has fashioned a light drama sprinkled with enough humor (often subtle) to make it a very pleasant experience. The performances are strong. Dabis put herself in front of the camera for the first time and does a wonderful job. Malouf, who plays May's sister Yasmine, nicely makes her feature debut, Shawkat, the other sister Dalia, gets the most laughs (you'll know her from ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (2003) as Maeby Funke) and Abbass provides a strong and determined mother, Nadine, to the girls. And what a neat surprise to see Bill Pullman show up as Edward, Nadine's ex and father to the three girls.

Another major character is the location of Amman, Jordan. It's not only the sepia tone look of the landscape and buildings but getting a taste of the culture shock provides a few laughs at the expense of those who look upon women as less than men. There's a moment in the final act where May stands on the top of a mesa in the desert and sees the beautiful landscape around her in every direction. She stands alone and finds the answer she's been searching for. It's breathtaking. Except for the camels, it looks very much like the American Southwest. From this point until the end it's a full on drama with a conclusion that wraps up nicely (perhaps a little too neatly) where every major character fulfills their arc.

From a guy who watches hundreds of movies a year and spends a lot of time wallowing in the movie gutter of the 60s and 70s, I highly recommend this flick.

Let's just start saying that I do not believe that this movie got under six stars on IMDb. This is an amazing Indie movie. Starting with the photography which is beautiful and then going to the plot and to the actors. So refreshing... I loved the expressions of the daughters every time the mother, who is a devoted Christian, made funny religious comments. I can relate so well, I am Brazilian but my father was a Christian Lebanese, so I grew up with both Brazilian and Middle Eastern culture and also with the "religious" behavior of my dad. And it is just like that, besides Middle Eastern people are very friendly and warm and what a hospitality they have, but they are also in everybody's business, pressuring and pushing for marriage and education and all families are kind of dysfunctional, it is just crazy and lovely.

Going back to the movie, I thought with was amazing, sweet, beautiful, female power and funny. Love the soundtrack too. The scenes when they go to the "Red Sea" for the bachelorette party are awesome and hilarious.

Another movie, like this is "Caramel", from director "Nadine Labaki"

this movie is by far the worse movie i have ever seen in my life, it took a place in Jordan and all the scenes and people in the movie they don't even represent Jordan nor Jordanians, its talking about a Palestinian family so they might film it in Palestine not Jordan, and i see this movie as a misrepresentation of Jordanians and Jordan and its a racist movie so don't even bother to watch. and if i have the ability to take it down from the internet i would.

Cinema has changed. And watching movies these days is getting more and more like reading books in the old days. Just better, on my opinion, because images can be much stronger than words. They could have no equal: they can strike us the strongest, give us the greatest deal of immediate informations or go the deepest and last the longest into our brain.

I loved this movie for a lot of reasons. But one of them, apparently, is that it shows Amman and Jordan. I know how this could sound stupid and I know that if someone wants to see images from these places he could just check on the Internet.

But when May arrives to her mother's place and stops to give a look to the city I thought 'So, this is Amman!' and I felt strangely interested: a place we all have heard of, so far, so alien… seeing people living there, having fun, dancing, driving, going shopping and falling in love put all the elements of this movie under a peculiar light.

Anyway, besides that, it's a really good story, very feminine, very human and sincere. Cherien Dabis is an amazing writer, director and performer, all the cast did great and the film is beautiful. Would it have taken place, let's say in Ohio, however, I don't think it would have just been the same for me.

I really enjoyed the story with its twists and turns. Like the previous reviewer, I do feel that a great deal of my enjoyment was derived from the backdrop of Amman, Jordan. It is stunningly beautiful and add to that the background soundtrack of the calls to prayer, even more beautiful. Also, learning that the lead was played by the writer of the story, I wondered if it was autobiographical. I would have liked to learn more about why all 3 daughters left their homeland. I would have liked to learn more about how the father met the mother. Bill Pullman did a great job with the role of the father coming across as believable some of the time but not believable much of the time.