Margaret (2011)

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

one of my absolute favorites!

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Over two hours of rights and wrongs... my personal experience is that I didn´t check my watch for about two hours and when the credits rolled I stayed put. It´s hypnotic how it sustains a relentless pace for that long. It´s many things at once: a moral dilemma, a growing process, a mother-daughter relationship... and more. Everything accumulates with a plausible chaos similar to real life nonsense. In that aspect the script seems to have been written on its own. Things happen and we react. That makes any off-putting scene easily forgivable because characters seriously come to life and reactions and interactions seem inevitable. It focuses entirely on Lisa, a well-intentioned, educated, confused and pretentious teenager. The rest of an impressive cast only exist in relation to her and there are unexpected small parts played by big names that support this project´s epic ambitions. This is the first film I´ve seen that takes full advantage of Anna Paquin´s talent for over-acting. Her character is a turmoil of emotions and she doesn´t hold back. She´s often unfair, judgmental, self-centered and over-dramatic but those traits ring true to the character. Paquin shows her struggle to develop as a person, her will to do the right thing and be the best she can be. She makes her character believable and ultimately likable.What I didn´t like were the dialogues, constantly using big words for the sake of it and over-explaining emotions. If Lisa was the only character to fall into that I´d be ok with it, but she´s not. That makes different characters seem deranged in the exact same way. Emily´s scenes lose a lot of credibility because of that. Then there´s the accident which inspires the whole "moral gimnasium". It isn´t intricate enough to sustain the epic conflict of interests it aims for. What we get is a whole lot of legal mumbo-jumbo. It´s unbalanced the way it insists on some points while leaving others almost untouched. Lisa´s guilt should have been explored further since she had such a big part on the accident. I´m guessing the film suffered enormously from the nightmarish editing process I only learned about later. The chaos kind of gets out of control at some point and the epic it looks for gets lost, absurd, even. I can understand how it was supposed to be an even longer film but I don´t see how including details about her abortion would have improved upon the dilemma.Again, lots of rights and wrongs, it depends which part you choose to stay with. It´s a pitty because the ending is effective and the overall experience is rich, despite its many flaws.

There is no one named Margaret in the movie. It comes from a poem that is read. But that's okay I grew up watching Captain Kangaroo who is nether a captain nor a kangaroo. In fact there may have been a lot of stuff I didn't grasp in this film, but here goes.The film opens in slow motion to illustrate how life moves slowly along until one moment suddenly changes and defines it. Lisa (Anna Paquin) distracts a bus driver who runs a red light and kills a women. She wants to do the right thing, but what is it? The grief and moral dilemma disrupts her life and her relationships.The film is well made. The acting was excellent as was the writing...I think. I just didn't enjoy the film, but I didn't dislike it either. The main problem I have with the overall theme is that Lisa wants justice for the dead woman. She has grief which we see, but we don't see her publicly confess her role in the death. She doesn't seem to have any guilt...or perhaps that is the point of the film is that we quickly forgive our own guilt...except we don't. I kept waiting for Lisa to take blame for what had happened.This is a film about grief, but it is not really sad. Matt Damon plays a geometry teacher who is a love interest of Lisa. Matthew Broderick plays a literature teacher whose classes provide the film with multiple confusing deeper themes for you to pick from in case you don't like the aspect of simply dealing with grief. After watching the film, I felt like I needed a hug.PARENTAL GUIDE: F-bomb, sex, nudity (J. Smith-Cameron, Ann Paquin silhouette)

Margaret is a sad and darkly compelling story which situates on a teenage girls difficult struggle to come to terms with her lies and post-traumatic stress of a grueling accident. It's beautifully shot, terrifically acted and told in such a sophisticated way that makes you glue your eyes to the screen and makes it feel like it's two hour plus runtime is under an hour. The story itself has little faults, only being too smart for its own good, drawing out its runtime with a few mindless fillers. Margaret does a brilliant job of captivating the audience that I can't help feel why this film slipped under my radar for such a long time. A fantastic cult gem that makes indie films get a good name.

I caught this on HBO. I thought it would be a great study in handling grief. Whoa, was I mistaken!* Spoilers*1st. To the Reviewer who said he'd "rather be run over by a bus"—No you don't. I have been & _Nothing_ warrants that reprehensible idiomatic phrase.2nd. Re: The Film. While the Lisa Cohen character is usually hysterical for most of the movie (can't imagine how Ms. Paquin kept that up), the gist of the movie is: —In seeing a bus driver's cowboy hat (which she's in the market to buy), she catches the driver's attention while he's going through a Red Light. Because of this, a woman named Margaret is killed & dies in Lisa Cohen's arms. Lisa then gives a false police report so as to not incriminate either herself, or the bus driver. Lisa spends the rest of the film trying to settle her guilty conscience with all the involved characters; as well as mature in her broken world (child of divorce & mother is a self-absorbed actress-so Lisa thinks-but her mother is also finding love again with Jean Reno.What does Lisa really accomplish? Alienating or Antagonising the audience.(In all my years of reading/using IMDb, I have never seen so many User Reviews. Amazing!)Lisa's guilt (& class w/Broderick) re: Shakespeare—the screenwriter falls for the Lady MacBeth—can't wash the blood off my hands cliché (in a nightmare).Lisa thinks she can call or just show up w/out notice into the lives of Margaret's relatives, the Police (Hey Kids, Lisa thinks she can pull rank by being a bigot & insulting the officer who thinks it's fine to release next-of-kin telephone #s to her. Lets try that at home—Not!); & she tracks down the bus driver—again "reasoning while hysterical" & tries to get him to admit he ran a Red Light directly Into Margaret to the police.—Yes, Lisa's the definition of naive until she becomes belligerent—then she becomes Litigious. At least one moment of reality arises when Ruffalo says who's going to pay for my family's needs if I'm found guilty? But no way in real life would Cohen be allowed to visit him, or would a bus driver agree to talk with her.To Summarize: 1. This film is a giant waste of time. 2. There is no form of actual healing; although she's surrounded by people who could provide counseling. 3. Completely unrealistic police procedural. 4. It's actually emotionally frustrating to watch. 5. Just b/c her parents are divorced doesn't mean they don't love her, or don't have time for her. 6. This film needs either a major re-write; a vast edit; or I wouldn't have released it anyway.& finally …7. I think the discrepancy b/n very low ratings & high ratings is based on thestar quality packed into this film vs. the final edit that I saw where there was no way to suspend disbelief. Frankly, it felt like a very bad Law & Order knock-off.