Morvern Callar (2002)

What makes it different from others?

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Load of rubbish!!

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

A guy commits suicide at home. He was an unpublished author, but his first novel is completed. His girlfriend cuts the body into pieces, bury the pieces into the woods and then sends his novel to a publisher, pretending it's her work, even if she's basically illiterate.She gets a fat check for the novel (which was obviously a masterpiece) and lives happily ever after, after a stupid trip to Spain. Or she goes to Spain before getting the money.... I don't remember and really don't care.I would not even discuss how morally repugnant this Morvern character is, with her disposing of her lover's body in such a way. Also stealing a dead person's legacy work is pretty repulsive. However, skipping over the disgusting main character - of which we see far too many in contemporary movies - the storytelling technique was a mix of boring and insufferably pretentious, that made me swear never to watch any other movie made by this director ever again.

there's something incredibly satisfying and refreshing about seeing a female lead character be unabashedly flawed. Morvern Callar is faced with something huge, and is told to Be Brave. And that's what she tries to do — but not necessarily with choices we would agree with or find right. She makes incredibly selfish, sometimes greedy choices that, if I'm being honest, I would have entertained if faced with the situation. The film is great with exploring what happens if we made the choices we are tempted to make but decide against.

Samantha Morton is a talented English actress perhaps best known for her role as the abused psychic Agatha in Steven Spielberg's sci-fi thriller Minority Report (2002), but she has delivered award-winning performances in many other films as well. One of them is Lynne Ramsay's 2002 drama Morvern Callar, which was chosen as the most underrated film of the past decade by The Guardian newspaper at the end of 2009.Based on the 1995 novel by Alan Warner, Morvern Callar is the story of an alienated woman of the same name (played by Morton), who discovers her boyfriend James has committed suicide on Christmas day. He has left behind his unpublished novel, some money and a note telling Morvern to send the manuscript to a publisher – she does, but only after inserting her own name as the author of the novel. With James' money, Morvern and her best friend Lanna (Kathleen McDermott) make a trip to Spain, but can traveling and meeting new guys ultimately do anything to get Morvern out of her emotional vacuum on which James' death only appears to have a negligible effect?The main focus is on observing Morvern's character as she wanders through whatever situations she encounters: wild parties, work shifts at a supermarket, a Spanish carnival. It looks like she has little connection to social expectations: she lives with James' dead body for days before getting rid of it by herself and has no second thoughts about submitting his novel as her own. Her portrayal makes one wonder how she could ever talk about her feelings, when she appears to be devoid of them in the first place; even her occasional bouts of joyfulness are little more than ripples on her seemingly undisturbed surface. Morvern's delicate development over the course of the story can be contrasted to the nature of her carefree friend Lanna, who cannot understand the ambiguous nature of Morvern's restlessness. Only hinting, never proclaiming, the film advances to its hauntingly open ending that provides few clear answers.The technical style of the film remains calm and quite cold, carrying a feel of loneliness and detachment even in the crowded party scenes. The cinematography, wide shots of Scottish and Spanish landscapes and the mise en scène also enhance the atmosphere beautifully, as does the sparse use of non-diegetic score. The indie music songs in Morvern's earphones sound very nice too, but luckily avoid coming across as overly hipsterish. Acting-wise, Morton fits in the role of the worn-out Morvern magnificently and McDermott captures the ditzy aura of Lanna at ease too.The film's slow pace and reluctance to explain its characters' motivations render it unsuitable for those with short attention spans, but admirers of vaguer and more ambitious cinema may find it very enjoyable. I am not sure I agree with The Guardian's suggestion of Morvern Callar being the most underrated film of the decade, but I do think it is worth more attention than it has been getting (at least I had not heard anything about it before seeing it last night). In the end, it is not for everyone, but few great movies are.

I have to admit that I stuck this one out thinking something would have to happen, besides the dead body in the first scenes... and her disposal of him. I was wrong. It was a cinema verite of Betty hits the Beach encased for the first part by Mordant Morven. I really don't care what young lassies from Scotland do these days, who thy screw, what drugs they take. Visually, the stroll through the Cabo de Gata in Andalucia was pleasant and surely the high point for me. The nadir was the chop shop for her dead boyfriend. As the movie came to a close I had two thoughts... 1. That's all there is? 2. Now I see why her boyfriend killed himself. Rename it. "Bare Bitch Boredom, or What I did on my trip to Spain." I'm such a sucker for sticking these things out.