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Blue Car (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:33
Fresh:30
Rotten:3
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: A cautionary tale that rings true.
Theatrical Release:May 2, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $397,645
Synopsis: Agnes Bruckner delivers an impressive, assured performance with BLUE CAR, an affecting coming-of-age drama from Karen Moncrieff. Bruckner is Meg, a beautiful teenager who is desperate to find... Agnes Bruckner delivers an impressive, assured performance with BLUE CAR, an affecting coming-of-age drama from Karen Moncrieff. Bruckner is Meg, a beautiful teenager who is desperate to find inspiration and guidance in her otherwise tumultuous life. At an early age, her father left her family behind. Now, there is only her edgy mother, Diane (Margaret Colin), and her increasingly aloof younger sister, Lily (Regan Arnold). Salvation appears to arrive in the presence of Mr. Auster (David Strathairn), Meg's reserved English teacher who takes an interest in Meg's poetry. It isn't long before both Meg and Mr. Auster begin to take an interest in each other, and as an approaching national poetry competition brings the two closer together, deeper feelings emerge. But Meg eventually learns a painful secret about Mr. Auster, which shatters her impressions of the man, and threatens to push her over the edge forever. Moncrieff, a former television actress turned writer-director, turns her potentially formulaic material into ultimately moving entertainment. This can be attributed to the performances of her lead actors. As the conflicted Meg, Bruckner is a perfect blend of budding sexuality and adolescent bitterness. As her damaged teacher, Strathairn is at turns deeply comforting and crushingly evil. [More]
Starring: David Strathairn, Agnes Bruckner, Margaret Colin, Frances Fisher
Starring: David Strathairn, Agnes Bruckner, Margaret Colin, Frances Fisher, Regan Arnold
Director: Karen Moncrieff
Director: Karen Moncrieff
Screenwriter: Karen Moncrieff
Producer: Peer J. Oppenheimer, Amy Sommer, David Waters
Composer: Adam Gorgoni
Studio: Miramax Films
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Release:
Oct 14, 2003
Reviews for Blue Car
Worth watching for the coming-out party of Agnes Bruckner, a relative newcomer who shows her mettle with an extraordinary performance in this very ordinary tear-jerker.
An impressive first effort from Ms. Moncrieff, but the eternal Aristotelian in me finds it depressing to watch characters always walking around in moral quicksand.
We've seen this unhappy scenario played out many times before, but seldom with a better eye for detail.
Certainly no feel-good flick of the summer. But it's always tough and honest.
It's rare that a movie makes a viewer experience the psychodynamics of an encounter so profoundly -- usually theater is a better medium for that -- but Moncrieff has exceptional skills.
The story is so well-acted and honestly written that after a while it stops bothering us that we know where it's going.
It's that central dance between teacher and student that makes the movie both hard to watch and worth your attention -- a subtle waltz of power in which it's difficult to tell who's leading until too late.
It's a writer-director's important debut and a giant leap to leading roles for a brave actress.
As bitterness piles upon disappointment piles upon loneliness, Blue Car stalls under the weight of its emotional baggage.
I didn't like Blue Car, and the only thing I found appalling is how blatantly predicable and pseudo-daring the supposedly appalling stuff is.
From the rain-streaked windshield to the unaffected line readings from a stellar cast, there is not a shot in Blue Car that doesn't ring true.
A beautifully crafted and painfully sincere movie that makes most dramas about teenagers seem about as real and relevant as American Pie.
Thanks to Bruckner and Strathairn, who's queasy beyond the call of duty, this is one indie that resonates well beyond the end credits.
For the most part, Blue Car succeeds in fulfilling Meg's assignment to 'touch the hidden nerve.'
It's rare that a first-time director demonstrates such a sure hand, but Moncrieff is the real deal.
The movie unfolds, wobbling between scenes that feel fresh and genuine and others that feel seriously overfreighted with ethical judgments.
Latest News for Blue Car
April 14, 2005:
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