MARGARET

Written and Directed by Kenneth Lonergan

Starring Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo and Alison Janney

Lisa Cohen: I just need to talk to somebody who doesn’t completely misunderstand who I am or what’s going on inside me.

It isn’t easy growing up, no matter who you are and no matter what you have to live through while you’re doing it. Take Lisa Cohen (Anna Paquin) for instance. She is a 17-year-old girl living on the Upper West Side in New York City. She goes to a private school and comes from a broken home. Her pre-occupations are not unlike any other girl’s her age - she bickers with her family, she wants to lose her virginity, she has opinions about worldly subjects she is only beginning to understand. And she is only just realizing that it is up to her to make sense of her own world when she inadvertently causes a fatal traffic accident. Suddenly, the world makes even less sense than it did just moments earlier.

MARGARET is writer/director, Kenneth Lonergan’s highly anticipated follow-up to his Oscar nominated 2001 feature, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME. The film went into production in 2005, when the now 29-year-old star, Paquin, who certainly gives a vibrant and youthful performance, was but 23. It then spent years in turnaround as Lonergan tinkered with the lengthy 3-hour+ runtime, trying to get distributer, Fox Searchlight, to sign off on it. It was scheduled to be released in 2007 but the cut was deemed unreleasable. In the midst of legal battles, Martin Scorsese and his faithful editor, Thelma Schoonmaker came on board to see what they could make of it. Their edit is the official theatrical release and both company and director are apparently happy with the end results.

Indeed all parties should be pleased as MARGARET is an engaging coming of age story. Lisa does not know how to process what she has witnessed and has no idea how to make right what she caused. She looks down every road for solace but constantly runs into walls and subsequently, she begins to act out as a means to make her life about something other than that accident. Perhaps in her own self-destruction, she can eradicate her guilt. If only life were that simple though. If it were, not only would Lisa find a simple path to peace but Lonergan would have found a simpler path to finishing this film. Life allows for things to pass in their own time though and with that, MARGARET needed to take this long to be released. Like Lisa, it too had some growing pains to go through first.

425. Margaret

425. (02 Oct) Margaret (2011, Kenneth Lonergan)* 37



It's clear why Fox Searchlight considered Margaret to be unreleasable. The Dickensian abundance of plot and characters suggests a poorly condensed miniseries, not a movie. While it is hardly necessary for loose ends to be tied up, there are so many throwaway scenes here that at some point it hardly seems like Margaret required salvaging. Whatever movie Lonergan initially intended to make would have barely been topical or interesting six years ago. All this time later, it's dated, plodding, and fails to make much of an impact.

The few scenes that work play well only because Lonergan is letting the melodrama run amok. Jeannie Berlin, in particular, has no restraint. While her performance is silly at times, she brings a joy to Margaret that's otherwise lacking. Anna Paquin handles herself quite well, taking Lonergan's grossly unbelievable, misshapen dialogue and giving it a bit of a life. Her character is written to be rather unlikable, but Paquin has an incredible, natural charisma. During Allison Janney's early death scene, Paquin shows a first spark that suggests she'll steal the show and it's not particularly surprising when she continues on that hot streak. She screams and cries like a pro. If the script wasn't so godawful, Paquin might've been in Oscar consideration.

Subplots involving Matt Damon and several brief classroom scenes do not work whatsoever. They're Lonergan's attempts at heavy-handed political commentary. Family scenes with J. Smith-Cameron and Paquin have much more intensity and truth to them. There is a certain beauty in some of the tearful, angry arguments and in the final scenes where Smith-Cameron and Paquin finally find common ground. But these are fleeting moments in a film where almost all of it could've been on the cutting room floor. Even Mark Ruffalo's big scene which puts the entire second act into motion is somewhat underwhelming.

Enumerating failures in Margaret is difficult since the film fails on almost every basic level. With unfathomably clumsy writing and editing that forcefully, desperately tries to give shape to a shapeless story, it's immediately clear this is a disaster. But like the film's bus crash that sets the plot into motion, it's hard to turn away. Even when the film consistently enters laughable, over-the-top territory, it's a fascinating monstrosity.

Black Sheep presents The 2011 Fall Film Preview

This past weekend, I stepped out of the house in shorts and a T-shirt and immediately walked right back in, when I realized how cold it actually was outside. It felt different; it felt like fall. While some people hate the fall, I love it! It’s all sweaters and soup and a welcome farewell to the mind numbing fare of the summer movie season. And with those changing autumn leaves comes the long awaited return of the prestige picture.

Speaking of anticipation, fans of the family drama, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, from writer/director, Kenneth Lonergan, will finally get to see his sophomore project, MARGARET this fall, some eight years after it was originally shot. Anna Paquin plays a 17-year-old girl (she was 21 at the time of filming) who witnesses an accident and begins believing she may have caused it somehow. She proceeds to slowly destroy everything in her life. In 2009, Fox Searchlight deemed the project, which also stars Matt Damon, unreleasable, but somehow, both parties have now found the path to understanding. A small mystery remains as to who had final cut.

What lies ahead isn’t entirely bleak though. Justin Timberlake continues his transition from pop star to leading man with the sci-fi thriller, IN TIME. Andrew Niccol, the writer of THE TRUMAN SHOW and the writer/director of GATTACA, returns with his first film since 2006. At this indeterminate time in our future, people are genetically designed to die at the age of 25. (I for one am glad to live in a world where I have so far had nine years past that.) People who reach this golden age are given one year to either find more time, be that legitimately or otherwise. Timberlake’s character comes into a century’s worth of time and not surprisingly, that makes him a guy a lot of people want to find. The wide-eyed Amanda Seyfried and Olivia Wilde are along for the trip.

The title, TINKER, TAILER, SOLDIER, SPY, rolls off the tongue with ease and might and, from the looks of the incredibly taut trailer, the film itself might unspool with a similar readiness. Tomas Alfredson, the Swedish director behind the 2008 international cult hit, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, marks his first English-language film with an adaptation of the John Le Carre bestselling spy novel of the same name. Gary Oldman stars as George Smiley, a character who has not been tackled since the late Alec Guiness played him in 1982. Smiley must put his retirement plans on hold in order to ascertain the identity of a mole within the deep folds on the British intelligence agency, MI6. And when that mole just might be Tom Hardy or Colin Firth, in his first post-Oscar role, you know Oldman has his work cut out for him.

Come November, it’s time for some very important things to be done. It’s time to put on makeup; it’s time to light the lights. Yes folks, it’s time to get things started with the first Muppets movie in over 20 years. Entitled simply, THE MUPPETS, this caper finds Kermit et al. banding together to save their old theatre from being destroyed by a greedy oil tycoon type. They have enlisted the likes of Amy Adams and Jason Segel to get the job done and there are plenty more cameos crammed into this welcome return to the big screen, from Neil Patrick Harris to Mila Kunis to Zach Galifianakis. Segel offers his aid in more ways than one as well. He essentially spearheaded this entire Muppets renaissance, even going so far as to co-write the screenplay.

One could argue that December is not really the fall still but while looking ahead, I see nothing wrong with looking even a little further past that at the same time. While there are many December releases to get excited about, there is one above them all that I am most drawn to. I’ve never read the THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO but I have seen all three of the Swedish films that were adapted from the Steig Larsson series. Ordinarily, I am not a fan of foreign language films being redone in English for mass market appeal but those films are not usually directed by the man behind THE SOCIAL NETWORK, David Fincher. And from the looks of the trailers, it seems to me that Fincher isn’t the least bit concerned about mass appeal. Rather, he seems intent on keeping it dark and authentic. Just in time for the holidays, no less ...

There are oodles of other movies coming, 100+ between now and the close of the year. A great deal of them will be covered in my upcoming TIFF coverage but here is a rundown of the rest for you: Director Steven Soderbergh kills off several Oscar nominees in CONTAGION; one of the most loved animated films of all time, THE LION KING, returns to theatres for a limited 3D run; Taylor Lautner tries really hard to be a big boy in the thriller, ABDUCTION; Daniel Craig plays creepy house with now wife, Rachel Weisz, in Jim Sheridan's DREAM HOUSE; Anna Faris recycles old boyfriends in WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER?; Hugh Jackman takes on robot boxing in REAL STEAL; the world gets a FOOTLOOSE remake it never wanted; Johnny Depp goes back to the world of Hunter S. Thompson in THE RUM DIARY; Michelle Williams gets her Monroe on in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN; Harold & Kumar return for a third trip in A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS; Clint Eastwood takes on Hoover in J. EDGAR, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and potential love interest, Armie Hammer; Martin Scorsese goes family and 3D with HUGO; oh, and I think there should be another TWILIGHT mess in there somewhere.

Stay tuned for Black Sheep's TIFF preview next weekend and the holiday movie preview will bow near the end of November. In the meantime, bon cinema!

Emmy Predictions - Drama Series

I'm saving the Comedy Series for last (or part 2) because since I actually tune in to the occasional TV scripted comedy show, I can relate to them better and assemble a small sense of excitement.  Also, I won't be predicting any of the directing, writing, or movie/miniseries categories.

The real nominations come out on July 14th.  So, here we go!  All my predictions can be seen over on GoldDerby.com, where you can conveniently make your own.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - DRAMA SERIES

• 1

  John Slattery  -Mad Men

• 2

  Alan Cumming  -The Good Wife

• 3

  Andre Braugher  -Men of a Certain Age

• 4

  Walton Goggins  -Justified

• 5

  Denis O'Hare  -True Blood

• 6

  John Noble  -Fringe

(There are a lot of possibilities for this category.  Broadwalk Empire has the possibility for a ton of slots, but given that wide field from the show and the fact it hasn't aired in forever, I think ultimately will hurt the show's supporting men.  Slattery and Cumming seem decent locks at this point, with last year's presumed second-place man and Emmy favorite Braugher close behind.  Three of last year's nominees aren't eligible this year, so I'm expecting some fanboy love to shine through for Fringe's Noble and True Blood's scenery-munching O'Hare.  Expect a slew of nomination for Justified, including The Shield alum Goggins).

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - DRAMA SERIES

• 1

  Margo Martindale  -Justified

• 2

  Christina Hendricks  -Mad Men

• 3

  Archie Panjabi  -The Good Wife

• 4

  Debra Winger  -In Treatment

• 5

  Christine Baranski  -The Good Wife

• 6

  Kelly Macdonald  -Boardwalk Empire

(Emmy voters rarely like to change anything, unless it's season 5 or 6 of something.  That being said, I expect three of last year's nominees (Mad Men's Hendricks, The Good Wife's Baranski, and the winner Punjabi) to easily return.  All the ado over Justified is mostly focused on character-actor-savant Martindale, whom I expect to win and therefore be nominated.  In Treatment has been good to nominees in the past, and it may be hard to pass up a star like Winger on a ballot, though few saw the third season of this now-cancelled show.  And finally, if I expect anyone aside from Steve Buscemi to be nominated for Broadwalk Empire, it's Emmy-champ Macdonald.)


BEST ACTOR - DRAMA SERIES

• • 1

    Jon Hamm  -Mad Men

  • 2

    Steve Buscemi  -Boardwalk Empire

  • 3

    Michael C. Hall  -Dexter

  • 4

    Timothy Olyphant  -Justified

  • 5

    Hugh Laurie  -House

  • 6

    William H. Macy  -Shameless

(This category has gone to Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad for the last three years, and luckily for these six men, AMC didn't air his show in the qualification window.  That being said, perennial nominee and also-ran Hamm should make a return, as should Hall and Laurie, all of whom have too often watched other walk away with an Emmy.  Of the last three slots, I expect one to go to newbie Buscemi, since Emmy voters love new series and movie stars.  During the nomination process, you have to be loved by at least a small voting body to be nominated, a qualification which Olyphant has, so I expect him to be a nominee.  Finally, Macy should fill out the final slot if anything because of his recognizable name.)

BEST ACTRESS - DRAMA SERIES

• 1

  Elisabeth Moss  -Mad Men

• 2

  Kyra Sedgwick  -The Closer

• 3

  Julianna Margulies  -The Good Wife

• 4

  Katey Sagal  -Sons of Anarchy

• 5

  Mariska Hargitay  -Law & Order: SVU

• 6

  Anna Paquin  -True Blood

(For someone who doesn't watch these shows, this is an incredible boring category.  Marguilies and Sedgwick should be returning and contending for the crown alongside Mad Men standout Moss, who according to many, has a killer submission possibility this year with "The Suitcase."  Hargitay has been nominated just about every season since she joined the show, and has won in the past; her upcoming exit from the series should help her be spotlighted here.  With a Golden Globe win earlier this year, Sagel is a tempting choice on the ballot, and her show Sons of Anarchy has become vastly more popular this year.  Combined with her TV vet status, I expect to her to be nominated, because a small group love her work.  Finally, I'm predicting True Blood's Paquin to make it in the last slot, if only because I have a gut feeling about it.)

BEST DRAMA SERIES

• 1

  Mad Men

• 2

  The Good Wife

• 3

  Boardwalk Empire

• 4

  Game of Thrones

• 5

  True Blood

• 6

  Justified

(Well, this isn't the most predictable lineup.  I'm not buying The Killing talk whatsoever, but I could be totally incorrect on that front, and I'm feeling Dexter will be a disappointment this year after John Lithgow ran the table last season.  So, with those two out of the equation in my mind, that leaves the four frontrunners for the win, Mad Men, The Good Wife, Broadwalk Empire, and Game of Thrones.  Some aren't thinking Thrones has what it takes, but the buzz is there and you can feel it.  As aforementioned with Justified, the small, passionate fanbase will get it in.  True Blood made it last year, and I don't see why to bet against it this year.)

There they are: place your bets now.  So what do you think? Are my predictions totally crazy?