Not sure who Margaret is but the film is fabulous!
22 December 2011
Margaret, the film by Kenneth Lonegan, is bursting at the seams and seems like half of its 150 minute running time. This is a full film that is emotional, complex, and complete.
Anna Paquin is the lead (pictured at left), a teenager, and she’s simply sensational. She shows at least 4 authentic – but different – selves throughout the film and she convinced me every time. Wow.
Kenneth Lonegan is clearly on a mission. Make that missionS. The too-many-to-name subplots all add wonderfully to the flow of the film and each has its own compelling raison d’être.
Can you imagine a film that, albeit briefly, exposes the Israeli genocide but doesn’t take sides?
Don’t let that throw you off. The heart of this film is the emotion it shows and evokes, while portraying the heart of civilization for what it is: devoid of feeling and proudly so.
Every adult is shown to be living a lie and I’m not sure that was planned. Meanwhile, adolescence is sympathetically portrayed as a time of exploration (at least for the civilized) and despite a few male-centred slips by Lonegan, the women – both young and old – shine through it all.
This is a BIG production which makes this film all the more remarkable.
Parents in particular will benefit hugely. Not so much for any lessons it lends, but simply because there are two who seem stereotypical. There’s the permissive mother who is so well acted; she explodes when pushed but with her career flourishing readily gives up the role she signed up for before birth. Then the absent father who diligently goes through the list of cerebral items to discuss each phonecall but is devoid and deathly afraid of emotional depth. To whom does a teenager turn?
And then there’s the raging volcano in almost every character: Alice Miller must have consulted from her grave. They are all likeable and lovable and have childhoods that haven’t healed. And their socialization has trained them to change positions the instant someone else agrees with them. A brilliant portrayal…no wonder Hollywood doesn’t know what to do with this film!
The overt sleaze comes in the form of exposing the legal world for what it is; the less overt surrounds the cops. The only marketing sleaze I’m aware of is the title of the film; not that it’s sleazy, just that it may get a few folks to view it repeatedly to get it.
There’s still more, it’s that full. Margaret will ring in the New Year at the Vancity Theatre from January 1 to 5, and if you want a resolution to improve your life, see this film and let it inspire you to:
- become an even more committed parent,
- heal your childhood wounds,
- treat the teenagers in your life with more respect and admiration, and/or
- move beyond the confines of civilization.
Brava Margaret!
Ring in the New Year at any of these showtimes at the Vancity Theatre in Downtown Vancouver:
January 1st @ 6:30pm
January 2nd, 4th, and 5th @ 8pm
