Review of Margaret (2011) by Amanda C — 12 Jan 2013
Margaret a bit of a rambling mess of a film, but in an odd way this works in its favour. Margaret follows teenager Lisa (Ana Paquin) after she is witness to a bus accident that kills a woman. Profoundly affected by this traumatic event, Lisa tries to navigate her life and make sense of her role in the accident and her life after the fact.
As such, the film's structure directly mirrors her rambling, uncertain mental state. This has the effect of eliminating the usual objections that would come of a film that is this loose and at times empty or rough because it can be seen as the visual representation of Lisa's mind.
That said, filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan loses his way as the film goes on, with some of the dialogue unnecessarily cheesy and a loss of flow from one event to another. The ending becomes a series of seemingly unconnected vignettes, that is at odds with the first part of the film.
A touch more continuity between the first and second half, plus a little more trimming in the editing room would have helped Margaret immensely.
This review of Margaret (2011) was written by Amanda C on 12 Jan 2013.
Margaret has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
