"Shocking and exhilarating."
Morvern Callar (2002)
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Reviews Counted:76
Fresh:64
Rotten:12
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: Morton quietly makes this quirky, enigmatic mood piece a compelling watch.
Theatrical Release:Dec 20, 2002 Limited
Synopsis: The role of the aimless young rebel hiding behind an emotional wall and steely eyes has been monopolized by men in the movies since James Dean. Samantha Morton, one of her generation's most gifted... The role of the aimless young rebel hiding behind an emotional wall and steely eyes has been monopolized by men in the movies since James Dean. Samantha Morton, one of her generation's most gifted actors, makes the most of her opportunity to embody such a figure in her role as the title character of MORVERN CALLAR. Momentarily frozen by the suicide of her boyfriend, Morvern mines two words from his brief suicide note: be brave. Finally removing his body from the apartment floor, she buries her boyfriend, pocketing the funeral money he left. She also courts publishers, claiming authorship of the novel he left behind as his legacy. Her new financial freedom and sense of mortality brings Morvern, joined by her coworker Lana (Kathleen McDermott), out of her bleak surroundings to a Spanish resort where the two are surrounded by fellow clubbers. Lynne Ramsay (RATCATCHER) evokes emotion through landscape as Morvern and Lana flee the dreary Scottish winter for a Spanish coastal town bathed in sunlight. Working from Alan Warner's novel, Ramsay uses powerful imagery and a soundtrack vacillating between contemplative silence, abrasive sound effects, and hip music to create a purely cinematic work, avoiding the trappings of an adaptation. [More]
Starring: Samantha Morton, Kathleen McDermott, Linda McGuire, Duncan McHardy
Starring: Samantha Morton, Kathleen McDermott, Linda McGuire, Duncan McHardy, Dolly Wells, Jim Wilson
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Screenwriter: Lynne Ramsay, Liana Dognini
Producer: George Faber, Charles Pattinson, Robyn Slovo
Studio: Cowboy Pictures
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Reviews for Morvern Callar
Morton's ethereal looks make her a perfect canvas for Ramsay, but there's an enigmatic energy behind her wide-eyed expression that's intriguing way beyond the end of the film.
Even if both films are about accidental sinners, Morvern Callar turns out to be a very different, and more difficult, film than Ratcatcher.
Ramsay succeeds primarily with her typical blend of unsettling atmospherics, delivering a series of abrasive, stylized sequences that burn themselves upon the viewer's memory.
Samantha Morton plays Morvern with the impressive lack of self-consciousness that has become her trademark.
We watch Samantha Morton so closely, with such fascination, because she is able to embody a universe of wounded privacy.
Ramsay, as in Ratcatcher, remains a filmmaker with an acid viewpoint and a real gift for teasing chilly poetry out of lives and settings that might otherwise seem drab and sordid.
[Morton is] completely unguarded, and every moment is painfully, beautifully genuine.
There was time on that second round to see the subtleties of Ramsay's portrait of grief.
Fails in making this character understandable, in getting under her skin, in exploring motivation...Well before the end, the film grows as dull as its characters, about whose fate it is hard to care.
As opaque as the movie is, it's redeemed by Ms. Morton's superb, disaffected performance.
Morton uses her face and her body language to bring us Morvern's soul, even though the character is almost completely deadpan.
Appealing? Not exactly. But Morvern Callar ... is a strange and evocative work that's not easy to dismiss.
Too often mistaking obscurity for complexity and moodiness for depth, director Lynn Ramsay squanders an intriguing premise and a layered performance by Samantha Morton.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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