Review of Margaret (2011) by Anomaly . — 22 Jul 2012

Absolutely fantastic film about a 17 year old girl who is left witnessing a tragic accident and the life she tries to live on the other side of it. As an indie film it stretches itself as a film by trying new angles to bring the drama to life. The results are extremely effective. At the very least what Margaret reinforces is just how great of an actor Anna Paquin really is.

Part of the wonder here is the sheer length of the film... 2 and a half hours for a drama. It brings us through a whirlwind of emotion as we see Lisa (Anna P) playing through her emotional despair. Set across from a fantastic line up of actors (Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick), we see this extremely uncertain young woman set in confidence in the midst of a struggling relationship with her family, only to be unraveled and left to try and gain back her confidence in any way she can. And she literally searches for it in every angle of her life. Through her distant father, through a superficial relationship, lashing out, and even an attempt at trying to act on her moral and ethical instincts. And for every place she tries to find it, it would appear that her life becomes that much more unraveled.

It is a film about growing out of innocence and in to the cruel reality of the world. Face to face with all of this, what we find is a young girl who is deeply broken and deeply uncertain about whether she has the tools to survive reality, which leads her to act out and lash out at everything around her in any way she can. It's emotionally baring in a way that envelops the viewer almost without them knowing. This is part of the reason why the 2 and a half hour play time doesn't feel anywhere near as long as it actually is.

The movie is almost played out like a song improvised. It leaves an intentional uncertainty about whether even the director knows how this is all going to play out. But yet somehow it all comes together in a sort of poetic fashion, showing that even when innocence is traded for reality, life can still be found even in the dark places.