Margaret [Blu-ray] [Import]

I can't remember the last time I've been so moved by a film -- maybe never. What's it about? Everything. It's hard to think of a major theme of human existence that is not explored in this movie. What it's mostly about is a teenage girl's confrontation with mortality. The title comes from a beautiful poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins called "Spring and Fall," which is read in the film by Matthew Broderick, playing Anna Paquin's high school English teacher:

To a young child

Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow's springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

Even now as I read that poem and recall the powerful closing moments of the movie -- where Paquin weeps and knows why -- a tear comes to my eye.

The film has an effortless realism. The classroom scenes and the lawyers are pitch-perfect. I mention them in particular, because movies usually get them wrong. The depiction of smart teenagers (and teachers) -- what they say and how they say it -- is dead-on. Every character is fully drawn. You know them all, and empathize. Some think the movie is too cluttered. I suppose the Matt Damon subplot is the least successful -- at least in the theatrical cut -- but I did not find the movie overstuffed. You need it all to appreciate the girl's coming of age as she deals with so many of the usual adolescent challenges, plus the outrageous fact of death.

This is a brilliant, spellbinding movie from start to finish.

Be aware that while this set does contain both versions of the film, it includes them IN ONLY ONE FORMAT EACH. The theatrical release is here ONLY in Blu-ray, and the extended version is here ONLY as a DVD. If like me you don't have Blu-ray, you won't be able to watch the theatrical release. And if on the other hand you wanted to watch the highly-regarded extended version in Blu-ray quality, this set won't give you that option.

I was fortunate enough to see this film recently at the West End Cinema in DC. Having read some of the mixed reviews, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I found myself pleasantly taken with the movie. Yes, there are one or two digressions that could have been better integrated with the story (or, possibly, cut). Yes, the climactic scene could've stood some tweaks. And yes, between this and You Can Count on Me, I do prefer the latter. But this was still one of the best films I've seen in years! It is a mature work, and honest, and considered. The emotions and psychologies of the characters feel real and authentic. If you're looking for a light, generic popcorn movie, this film is not for you. But if you appreciate true to life drama with weightier themes that will challenge your preconceptions and stimulate your higher cognitive functions, Margaret is definitely worth watching.

An early scene, of the story's tragic inciting incident, was so brutal, so powerful, and so upsetting that I almost had to leave the theater. The main character's involvement in this scene means that she is forever changed, and it's to be expected that she will begin to "act out" as she struggles to recalibrate her life in tragedy's wake. You might not like, or agree with, everything she does, but she is fascinating to watch. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone sums it up best: "Margaret, for all its flaws, is a film of rare beauty and shocking gravity."

As a product note, the disc release includes both the theatrical version (on Blu-ray) and an extended cut (on DVD). From what I've read, it sounded like the director was pressured to cut the film down to less than 2 and a half hours for the theatrical release, so it will be particularly interesting to watch the extended version. Perhaps some of the film's loose threads will prove to be more interwoven after all.