Margaret (2011)

A terrific, evolving, and in-obvious story line mixed with a lead performance by Anna Paquin to die for makes "Margaret" fabulous. See it for her performance alone.

If you think this is a new movie you'll notice some famous actors who look rather young--Matt Damon in particular in his role as a likable high school teacher. That's because it was filmed in 2005 (and got held up in post-production). Even so it doesn't feel dated. The main themes hold up really well, and are told with unusually frank terms. Many people really are just greedy and selfish at heart.

The key event happens early on and in a way can't even be mentioned here. But it's safe to say that Paquin, who's character is called Lisa Cohen, at first takes a false stance in a moment of crisis and compassion. But the truth of the matter eats at her, and against the rising tide of people who prefer the lie she becomes increasingly principled. In the end it is almost everyone who is morally corrupt, even in his own way her teacher.

There is one lurking problem to the movie that really hurt it. One is the way the initial crisis is filmed (with Mark Ruffalo as a bus driver). It is exaggerated and makes the circumstances leading to tragedy unlikely just when the rest of the movie depends on likelihood. Since this is the lynchpin of everyone's reactions later on, it matters rather too much to ignore.

But the rest of it, from the main plot and Paquin to the various sub-plots including a romantic affair her mother has and some political conflicts about Arab-Israeli relations and the 9/11 events, is all really sharply delineated and well acted. And it's written with a good ear for dialog. It simply makes sense. The fact that there is no silver lining here, and that people are shown so obviously ugly below the surface, is harder to do than you might think. All admirable stuff.

If Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret, his first film since You Can Count on Me, establishes anything it is that unless we can acknowledge responsibility and forgive ourselves for any real or perceived wrongdoing, we are caught in an endless cycle of denial and recrimination, potentially causing great damage to ourselves and others by internalizing our guilt. The title is derived not from a character in the movie but from the poem Spring and Fall: To a Young Child, by Gerard Manly Hopkins which is read in class by English teacher John (Matthew Broderick). It is a poem addressed to a child named Margaret that seeks to comfort her cries "over the lovely golden leaves of the autumn forest, all fallen to the ground." If you think Matt Damon looks thin and others have gotten younger, it's only because the film was completed in 2005 but held up for six years in legal battles over its length, which was finally cut by one-half hour. Margaret centers on Lisa (Anna Paquin), a bright but self-absorbed teenage student at a New York private school. She is grieving after a bus accident she witnessed that caused the death of a pedestrian (Allison Janney). It was an accident that was mainly caused by her distracting the driver (Mark Ruffalo) to try and ask him about his cowboy hat, a distraction that caused him to run a red light.

Beating herself up for giving a false statement to the police because she didn't want to get the bus driver fired, Lisa takes out her anger on those around her. One of her easy targets is her mother Joan (J. Smith-Cameron), a stage actress who is already nervous about a new play she is starring in and a new boyfriend Ramon (Jean Reno). Growing more shrill each day, Lisa is a disaster waiting to happen and her school classmates and her teachers are not spared from her acrimony, especially Mr. Aaron (Matt Damon) who is teased into a compromising situation.

Her behavior becomes increasingly inappropriate as she turns to drugs and sex with an experienced school friend (Kieran Culkin), but these provide no escape from her trauma. Eventually she takes a step in the right direction by contacting Emily (Jeanne Berlin), a close friend of the deceased, the bus driver, and the police detective to amend her original statement; however, it does not seem to help her anguish. The plot lurches in different directions with lawsuits, trips to the opera, and increasingly hostile relationships between the main protagonists, and the film becomes more unpleasant and histrionic as it labors towards its conclusion.

There are some excellent scenes, however, in Margaret and the recital of several poems, a passage from Shakespeare, and scenes from the operas Norma and Tales of Hoffman, pays tribute to the city and culture of New York. One of the best scenes is one in which a highly intelligent student challenges the teacher's interpretation of a passage from Shakespeare, only to be met with a brush off and a reference to the "scholarly consensus," a moment very relevant to debates of the present day. Unfortunately, there are few such moments or likable characters in Margaret, and when Lisa, negating her awakening of conscience, takes out her frustration against the bus driver, the film becomes more of a case study of sociopaths than a family drama. Ultimately, Margaret should have remained on the shelf.

After his directorial debut in "You Can Count on Me", the immensely talented Kenneth Lonergan's new film was expected eagerly. The director, who has contributed to the theater with plays of the caliber of "This is Our Youth", "Lobby Hero", "The Waverly Gallery", and others seen in the New York stage. Now, after a long period in the shelves, his "Margaret" was released last year. Not having seen it when it was commercially released, we were given the DVD version as a present. "Margaret" had problems, yet the final version with a running time of 150 minutes, seems much longer the way it unfolds on the screen.

The basic premise is a careless young woman, Lisa, whose actions distract a bus driver in such a way, he provokes a fatal accident in which one innocent woman on her way home from shopping, is hit by the vehicle right in front of her eyes. Running to help the victim, Lisa experiences death as the woman dies in her arms. Lisa is distraught by what she witnessed, contributing to her own state of turmoil. She is a girl of privilege living in Manhattan with her divorced mother and young brother. She attends a good school, and by all reasons, should have been a happy girl until this tragedy alters her life and her perception of it.

At heart, there are a lot of thoughts behind Mr. Lonergan's screenplay. First and foremost is Lisa's own awakening to life after seeing the older woman die and not reporting to the police what really caused the accident. In her quest of righting a wrong, Lisa goes after the victim's only living relative who could not have cared more about what happened in New York. With the help of the dead woman's best friend, Lisa decides to continue fighting for what she feels was wrong. As a lawyer is brought to the fight the case, money from the bus company is mentioned, thus bringing to the picture the cousin and her family in Arizona who did not care about the accident, but now with the promise of riches, she loved and cared deeply for her late cousin.

There is also a problem in the relationship of Lisa and her actress mom. Lisa is critical of a mother she perceives as shallow. Lisa was ambivalent about her sexual life, but suddenly she decides to lose her virginity with a boy who decides to be the one doing the honor as a badge of merit. Not content with that Lisa hits on a teacher who should have known better, but goes against his better judgment to bed his student.

The acting, for the most part, is first rate. Anna Paquin is splendid as Lisa. We have seen Ms. Paquin in the New York stage and she keeps getting better and better all the time. Her bratty Lisa transforms herself in a young woman with a cause in her heart. J. Smith-Cameron, who is Mrs. Lonergan in real life, has been doing outstanding work in whatever play, she is asked to perform. As Lisa's mother, she is perfect in her approach. There are small appearances of people like Matt Damon, Matthew Broderick, Jeannie Berlin, Allison Janney, Kieran Culkin, among others. Mark Ruffalo, who shined in Mr. Lonergan's debut film, has nothing to do in this one. A miscast Jean Reno comes out as a racist and a bigot.

One can imagine that given the right atmosphere Kenneth Lonergan would have come out with a winning film. "Margaret" has brilliant moments, as well as others that detract from being a perfect film.