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Movies / Upcoming / Morvern Callar
Morvern Callar

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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.

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $0

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

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Morvern Callar

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
08/15/03
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
07/21/05
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Samantha Morton's performance recalls Emily Watson's work in Breaking the Waves -- you can't take your eyes off of her.

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment Comment
01/15/05
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer

Morvern Callar is assured and confidently-made, even as the emotions of the title character seem brittle and crystalline.

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
03/03/04
Matt Bailey
Matt Bailey
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment Comment
12/15/03
Christopher Tookey
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]

El resultado ha encontrado admiradores y detractores; sin llegar a ninguno de los dos extremos, yo tengo la impresión de que vi una buena película pero no me di cuenta.

Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | comment Comment
11/01/03
Enrique Buchichio
Enrique Buchichio
Uruguay Total

"Shocking and exhilarating."

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
10/24/03
Marcy Dermansky
Marcy Dermansky
About.com

Morton finds a wealth of nuance in anomie and neurasthenia.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
07/19/03
Richard Nilsen
Richard Nilsen
Arizona Republic

A mesmerizing conundrum of a suspended life in perpetual motion.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
07/16/03
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
07/02/03
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ramsay is showing us one very particular type of person, a live-for-the-moment young woman who is fascinated by ugliness and pain and who -- like the poet, Terence -- believes nothing human is alien to her.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
06/06/03
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

A film about youthful confusion made without a moment of artistic immaturity or indecision.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
06/05/03
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

A character study of such acuity that you'll find yourself thinking about it for days afterward.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
05/30/03
Liz Braun
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies

With little dialogue to assist her -- just the strains of that wonderfully organic music -- [Morton] still manages to suggest the internal struggle, and to slowly reveal a fierce toughness that flies in the face of conventional morality.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
05/30/03
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail

Maintains your sympathy for this otherwise challenging soul by letting you share her one-room world for a while.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
05/30/03
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star

You'll wonder how Morvern got that way. So why didn't Ramsay?

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
05/16/03
Nick Carter
Nick Carter
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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