Nuts in May Review
Mike_Leigh is in top form in Nuts in May, among the more straightforwardly enjoyable of the acclaimed British filmmaker's early works. While Nuts in May offers the psychologically complex characterizations that are a hallmark of Leigh's television oeuvre, its relatively quick pace and surfeit of humor point the way forward to his later feature films, High_Hopes and Life_Is_Sweet. Nuts in May is a funny and trenchant look at a hippie-like couple's ill-fated trip to the countryside. Roger_Sloman as Keith and Alison_Steadman as Candice Marie convey a lack of self-awareness that is, by turns, amusing and disturbing. These are full-bodied performances, making the characters fully believable even when their behavior seems absurd. Leigh builds the comic tension beautifully, as Keith and Candice Marie deal first with each other, then with Ray (Anthony O'Donnell), who Keith has a great deal of trouble with despite his relative harmlessness, and then with cheerfully unruly bikers Finger (Stephen_Bill) and Honky (Sheila_Kelley), who drive Keith to the point of a breakdown as he tries to get them to adhere to the campground rules and the "country code." Ray and Candice Marie's fierce defense of order and propriety flies in the face of everything they believe themselves to be, an irony that eludes the hapless couple. Their passive-aggressive relationship with each other is at the heart of the film, and it's a tremendous credit to all involved that they're simultaneously richly drawn, three-dimensional humans, and wonderfully comic figures. Josh Ralske, Rovi
Great Film Moments:
- In Theaters
- This Week
- Coming Soon
- New on DVD
Browse More Movies:
