review by Len Fearnside Patron
Margaret 2011
Watched Jan 01, 2012
Len Fearnside’s review:
I liked this movie a lot. Apparently it finished shooting in 2005 with hundreds of hours of footage and has spent years in editing and trying to get released (apparently the director was never satisfied and one of the producers died along the way) and what we ended up with is 2.5 hours of an excellent drama, with some definite editing problems. The cast is impressive (Matt Damon, Allison Janney, Jean Reno, Matthew Broderick, Mark Ruffalo) but unfortunately only a few of these characters are truly developed and with a lesser narrative this would be a massive problem, but since Paquin and her story are both amazing, it becomes more of a minor issue. Paquin is excellent as the confused and conflicted high school student, trying to make sense of what she saw and how she dealt with it and she is the driving force behind everything in the film. If you can forgive the seeming neglect of some of the characters and some of the editing issues, there is a great film and a great performance here.
Yeah... I know its controversial release... it's sad. I want to watch this really bad, but I can't find it anywhere. Did you watch it at the theater?
Fortunately they did a series of screenings at the local rep cinema here. Apparently the Blu-Ray is out now which has the extended cut and I am definitely going to get that as the theatrical version I saw did feel clipped, even though I really liked the film as is. Hopefully you get to see it soon; very interested to read your thoughts when you do.
That's really cool. Thanks man, can't wait to check it out.
Len I just watched this film. I was not expecting to like it nearly as much as I did. I had not particularly liked Paquin previously.
FYI: I watched the blu-ray (rcd. as gift) but I'm fairly sure it was not the extended version. I gave it 4 stars;also.
I've heard great things about the director's cut. I think I'll skip the first version and find that