Mayday

Snipers sometimes lie in uncomfortable positions for hours to make themselves invisible. Women, so explains young rebel leader Marsha to Ana, are pre-eminently suitable for this job as they are accustomed to nothing else.

In the fantasy-action film Mayday, waitress Ana, like some contemporary Alice in Wonderland, crawls into an oven and ends up in an unruly twilit limbo where a war between men and women is being fought. Ana is adopted by three hardened young female soldiers who inhabit a deserted submarine. Like latter-day Sirens, they entice male soldiers onto the rocks using a mayday signal – revenge for what men did to them and their sex.

Things are less clear-cut for Ana. Feature debut director Karen Cinorre doesn’t portray men as monsters. In their oversized uniforms they look more like little boys. What happens to the powerless when they suddenly gain power? Is there room for grey in a polarised world? Is there a way back for Ana? Cinorre encapsulates these questions in a beautifully designed mythical parable. The cast (Grace Van Patten and Mia Goth, with support from Juliette Lewis) is exceptional and the film constantly surprises, feeling both like a war drama and a teen adventure flick. One minute Marsha unhesitatingly slits a boy’s throat, the next Ana performs a dreamy ballet to Liberace’s sweet ‘Love Is Blue’ with his companions.