Right from the eye-catching opening visuals, this is one enigmatic movie. A friend told me to see it, but this same guy insisted it was called "MOVERN Callar". If movie fans aren't even clear what the name of the flick is, it must be low-low-budget and a few fields off the beaten path. I knew the fundamental reason to see this film was the remarkable Samantha Morton. This actress seems infinitely capable of playing any kind of wide-open emotion, but she also manages to keep plenty of secrets. Critics have gone on at length about her expressive face. And they should. She does more by doing nothing than most actors do by doing everything.
Morton plays the title character, a Scottish supermarket employee whose writer boyfriend has inexplicably offed himself on Christmas. The rambling plot shows how Morvern handles his suicide. She keeps the gifts he left under the tree, she covers up his death and doesn't tell anyone what really happened, and she even scams his just-completed novel for herself. Why? Well, I can't tell you that. Writer/director Lynne Ramsay's best move is to let her star actress play every scene as simply and as non-explanatory as she can. Morvern's actions are not normal. You're going to have to decide what's really going on in her head.
'Morvern Callar' is all mood and attitude, a true character study. There's no real story. I might love this movie like a cherished stuffed animal if I ever saw it again because there are scads of fascinating details throughout. Too bad it unravels a bit during the third act. The road trip with buddy Lanna (Kathleen McDermott, in an interesting acting debut) loses steam and I started to tune out. But Ramsay does an okay job of balancing the strangeness of this story with the genuine feelings of a lower-class girl who's lost her man to his own self-pity. Samantha Morton single-handedly makes this peculiar movie worthwhile. To offset shapeless and frustrating scenes, there's Morton, completely committed and believable. Not a great movie, but what a great performance.
Morton plays the title character, a Scottish supermarket employee whose writer boyfriend has inexplicably offed himself on Christmas. The rambling plot shows how Morvern handles his suicide. She keeps the gifts he left under the tree, she covers up his death and doesn't tell anyone what really happened, and she even scams his just-completed novel for herself. Why? Well, I can't tell you that. Writer/director Lynne Ramsay's best move is to let her star actress play every scene as simply and as non-explanatory as she can. Morvern's actions are not normal. You're going to have to decide what's really going on in her head.
'Morvern Callar' is all mood and attitude, a true character study. There's no real story. I might love this movie like a cherished stuffed animal if I ever saw it again because there are scads of fascinating details throughout. Too bad it unravels a bit during the third act. The road trip with buddy Lanna (Kathleen McDermott, in an interesting acting debut) loses steam and I started to tune out. But Ramsay does an okay job of balancing the strangeness of this story with the genuine feelings of a lower-class girl who's lost her man to his own self-pity. Samantha Morton single-handedly makes this peculiar movie worthwhile. To offset shapeless and frustrating scenes, there's Morton, completely committed and believable. Not a great movie, but what a great performance.