"MAYDAY" // SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2021
The dreamlike world of MAYDAY is a world populated by three sirens. Sirens, as in the classic Greek mythological creatures. Here they are portrayed as three young girls, running a world by their own rules, fighting off enemies who hope to harm them. Anastasia (Grace Van Patten), Ana for short, travels there in a sort of "Alice in Wonderland" kind of way. The world Ana arrives in is a place eternally at war with male soldiers, dropping in and attacking them from all sides. The girls are supporting and loving, quickly trusting her and letting her know how strong of a fighter she can be there. But I'm getting ahead of myself. This Neverland world is first unearthed from Ana trying to escape her dark, miserable regular life world.
Ana is a server at what looks like a catering style company. She's working for a wedding for a very nervous bride (Mia Goth) on a very stormy day. The setup is short and strange, not letting you get your bearings or get too comfortable. Ana is the victim of a horrible and abusive boss, who at one point seems to assault her offscreen. Emotionally adrift, she heads downstairs to turn back on the power, which short-circuts due to a rainstorm. While down in the basement, she beings to hear voices. Specifically, she hears a distress call coming from the oven, so she finds herself crawling into it, which leads her into a bay of water. At this point it's not meant to make sense quite yet, rather it feels like a dream, disorienting you.
She wakes up on an island, with no memory of her past existence. The nervous bride has now become Marsha, the leader of the island. Characters from her world become others here, giving a not-so-subtle Wizard of Oz feel. There's little that makes sense of the dreamscape and the three girls (Havana Rose Liu, Soko, Goth) don't bother explaining any of it to her. Instead they welcome her and teach her the "rules" of the island. As the film progresses, you realize what has happened to Ana and why she's arrived there but as fantastical and imaginative as the dreamworld is (a sort of purgatory for the hurt), there's little in the way of grounding any of the characters or emotions. It's a strangely cold film, with a lot of style over substance. There's little to connect us with Ana, since we never really learn anything about her, and even less so with the rest of the characters. All throughout, I kept thinking of this as an indie version of the film Sucker Punch without the, well, punch (and amazing soundtrack). It's clear that there are budget restrictions from some of the more grand ideas here, but even so, the script is lacking in any sort of fluid way. We aren't able to feel for the characters because we aren't told anything about them. All we can do is marvel at how inventive the new reality is. The middle of the film tends to repeat itself a bit too many times and the ending payoff is somewhat lacking. MAYDAY is not a bad film but it's not the great film it wants to be. The ambitions are much stronger than the parts. Instead of taking flight, it stays grounded and keeps you there as well.
GRADE: C+
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Karen Cinorre STARRING Grace Van Patten, Mia Goth, Havana Rose Liu, Soko, Théodore Pellerin, Juliette Lewis FEATURED AS PART OF THE 2021 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. FOR MORE INFO: MAYDAY