La Femme Recommends...Margaret

Kenneth Lonergan's long awaited second film, Margaret came out last year to little fanfare to the general public and huge praise from the internet film community.  Well, I am happy to say that I am finally a member of #teammargaret after watching this moving, messy and sprawling film.

Margaret is the story of New York teenager, Lisa, played wonderfully by Anna Paquin (although as a True Blood watcher it was a bit of a trip to see her look / play so young again!).  Lisa witnesses (and in a way contributes to) a bus accident that kills a woman who dies in Lisa's arms.  She spends the rest of the movie trying to process what happen and we see how this affects the various relationships in her life as well as see her forming a new relationship with the best friend of the woman who died.  Oh yeah, plus it takes place in post 911 New York City.

Because Margaret in many ways is an unfinished film, it is definitely messy.  But in a lot of ways, I think that is Lonergan's point; the movie is fundamentally about the complexities and messiness of human existence.  There are million story lines going on at once; there are story lines that are dropped or not giving very much time and the relationships between the characters can seemingly change from scene to scene.  I'm actually having a bit of a hard time describing the movie without going in a bunch different directions.  I could talk about the relationship between Lisa and her mother, or her mother's burgeoning relationship with a dashing man, or Lisa losing her virginity, or the classroom scenes.  I could go on.

I loved nearly all the performances in Margaret (Paquin, Jeannie Berlin, J. Smith Cameron and Jean Reno, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo plus a Culkin).  Lonergan has the balls to make most of his characters annoying, volatile, desperate and vulnerable, especially Lisa.  And that is what gives Margaret so much of its emotional power.  We all the characters struggle for meaning and purpose in their life and struggle to connect with other people in the world.  In a way, I'm glad that Margaret ends up being so disjointed and strange, the flaws only make it feel more true.

I think why Margaret ultimately worked for me, is what the movie is ultimately about is the terrible discovery that the world doesn't revolve around you.  That everyone else around you in the world aren't just players in your own personal drama.  That everything doesn't happen to give meaning to your life. It is a hard lesson to learn, and I am not saying that sarcastically.  Perhaps it is one that I haven't even completely learned myself.

Do yourself a favor and become a member of #teammargaret

Julie