Margaret [DVD]

Filmed back in 2005 and hindered by a series of legal disputes, the film stars Anna Paquin as an adolescent New York student, Lisa, who involuntarily causes a bus accident. In the wake of the crash, which leaves a middle-aged woman dead, she moulds the fallout into her own operatic melodrama.

Much the same way that her mother performs at the theatre every night, New York is Lisa's stage and she has cast herself the lead role of this production. Embarking on a pseudo-idealistic quest for redemption, the arrogant youngster turns people's real-life tragedy into her own selfish drama. However, in this crusade to become the centre of her peers' spotlight, the lives of Lisa's supporting cast, which include Matt Damon as her naively caring tutor and Mark Rufallo as the bus driver whom she innocently distracted to ignite the events, are thrown into turmoil.

Witnessing these characters who orbit Lisa's world hurled into disarray is what makes Margaret such an engaging film. As she feverishly fights to have the bus driver arrested and integrates herself into her victim's mourning circle of friends, Lonergan offers gripping drama and endearing black comedy throughout Margaret's sweeping 150 minute length. But what makes the film, named after the poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, more than just an engaging story and one of the finest releases of the year is the space in between the words.

It's a drama, after all, that's rich in subtext. Not only does Kenneth Lonergan set his narrative against a backdrop of post-9/11 New York where both racial and religious division collide with a deep sense of disillusion, but Lisa's tale itself paints a picture of modern America as a whole. Lisa's desire to assign blame for the suffering she has endured, despite often inducing pain on others while doing so, reflects the American attitude seen during the time of this film's conception.

With such vivid themes and heavy meaning, Margaret is clearly an ambitious escapade and the gel that holds it all together is Anna Paquin's performance at its core. Now famous as the star of HBO's True Blood, the actress delivers the finest turn of her career as Lisa. Though she's an entirely loathsome character, Paquin somehow manages to make spending two and half hours of your life with her a mesmerizing experience nonetheless. It's a remarkable achievement and a shame it has only just reached us now.

The fights between its studio, director and producer that kept Margaret shackled in development hell still rage to this day, meaning that the film may never find the audience it truly deserves. However, with just a little luck, this won't be something that becomes forgotten as the years go by. After all, what director Kenneth Lonergan unknowingly created against a backdrop of dispute may just be a masterpiece.

[...]

I'm with Dipesh Parmar in an earlier review. This fairly long film was never dull, but it did not satisfy either. Anna Paquin plays Lisa, an intelligent teenage girl with the erratic judgement of her years, feeling passionately about many things but expressing herself often in a way which angers or upsets those around her - and herself, in the end. She's prickly and self-righteous, vulnerable and aggressive. I don't want to give away essential elements of the plot, but her behaviour with the sympathetic maths teacher (Matt Damon), for example, is an instance of how she can be both manipulative and needy, with consequences for both of them which could be very serious. Anyway, as the result of a piece of very silly behaviour on her part and criminal carelessness on the part of the driver (Mark Ruffalo), she is partly responsible for a terrible accident in which a woman is killed by a 'bus which goes through a red light. She is with the woman as she dies - a terrible event very convincingly depicted - and her hysterical outbursts at that point are surely forgiveable. However, that is how she often is later in the film in quite different circumstances. She creates confrontation in the classroom, at home, with friends. After lying to the police, she decides to alter her witness account so that the driver, whom at that point she seems to blame totally, may be properly punished, and she goes after him relentlessly. That is really the main plot element, and it works itself out as the film goes on.

Lisa is not an unconvincing character ; she's just not likeable. At times she is the victim of circumstances. More often she creates trouble and aggravates it. She distresses a decent boy who likes her. She frequently upsets her mother, who is herself vulnerable. She is unable to deal successfully with her absent father, with whom she would like to spend time but to whom she talks on the 'phone, usually without very much connection, and whose offer of time spent together in the end is withdrawn. There are times when you would just like to slap her which is what (metaphorically) the dead woman's friend Emily eventually does, recognising that, while Lisa has been caught up in an event which would be traumatic for anyone, she is nonetheless making a narrative of it to suit herself, sometimes at the expense of others. I should say here that Anna Paquin's characteristic expression of startled self-righteousness turning to aggression is completely convincing ; she is very good, as are all the cast. J. Smith-Cameron as her mother also deserves special mention for a very good, understatedly fragile performance.

How much of this is the result of the film's editing, from 3 hours down to 2 and a quarter? It may be that links are missing, that some scenes, played out more fully, might carry more weight, but there is no way of knowing. There are moments when there are curious leaps, and one (in the maths teacher's apartment) when there was clear bad editing. In the end, the film seems to me to portray accurately some aspects of adolescent behaviour, but to be unsatisfactory as a dramatic whole.

P.S. (31st. July 2012) Another Amazon user has made me aware that this DVD is the full 3-hour version - I was writing about a version seen in the cinema, and should have made that clear. Thanks to my informant!

A sprawling, morally complex exploration of Bush era America and how teenage idealism is compromised by the realities of adulthood. This is a great New York movie where the city plays an integral role but the star here is Anna Paquin who gives a wonderful performance by turns touching and infuriating. This is the 3 hour version that the director intended not the 149 minute edit which was dumped into cinemas last year. It is slow and demanding but intelligent film making with writing and acting of the first order.