Okay.
So, there is a lot of bad press floating around about this movie. However, I’m not sure if the movie is legitimately bad, deserving the scathing reviews… or if folks are merely jumping on the band wagon of negativity surrounding the movies dramatic release. After all, ‘Margaret’ was filmed in 2005 and has been, either, in the editing room or court room every since.
Long story short; the production process for this film has been a complete mess… but does that make the film bad? Perhaps the film is good, but the producers had grown so tired of the project and they lack the energy (or interest or desire) to advertize. Perhaps critics are trying to hold Kenneth Lonergan’s second film up to unreasonable standards because it took him so long to complete.
I don’t know. But when the film comes to Suriname, I will be giving it a fair shake because I really like Kenneth Lonergan.
Most people know Lonergan as the write of ‘Analyze This’, ‘Analyze That’, and ‘Gangs of New York’… however I stumbled upon Lonergan before any of those projects hit your neighborhood movie theatres.
In 1998, while on a trip to Manhattan with my College of Charleston playwriting class we scored tickets to a random Off-Broadway play called ‘This is Our Youth’. The play starred, a then unknown, Mark Ruffalo and was simply amazing. It was written by Kenneth Lonergan and was eventually nominated for the Drama Desk award for ‘Best Play’.
Two years later I got my hands on a copy of Kenneth Lonergan’s next play ‘The Waverly Gallery’ which was equally as good (in text… I still have seen it live) and it went to receive a Pulitzer nomination.
And later that year, a went to see an amazing little independent film starring Laura Linney, Matthew Broderick, and Mark Ruffalo. I loved it! I became obsessed with this little film and I told everyone I saw on the street that they HAD to go see it. It was called ‘You Can Count on Me’ and guess what? It had been written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan… his first motion picture. I had no idea until after I saw it for the first time. The movie went on to score Laura Linney an Oscar Nomination and well as a Screenplay nomination for Lonergan. Frankly, Ruffalo and the film itself should have been nominated too! They were robbed.
And now… here we are today. We have Kenneth Lonergan who has a proven track record for writing some pretty amazing stuff. He has a new movie packed full of talent: Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick, Allison Janney, Jean Reno, and Kieran Culkin. However, the movie is getting dismal reviews… well… not dismal… the reviews I’m finding are just okay… 3 out of five stars, 6.7 out of 10, the grade of ‘C’… although I have found one critic who gave it a ‘B-‘.
However… I have yet to find a review that talks about anything substantial regarding the film itself. The only thing folks seem interested in talking about is how long ‘Margaret’ took to make, the lawsuits surrounding it’s delayed production schedule and release, and how they expected more out of a film that took nine years to finish.
Come on folks… these are all non-factors. Give me something I can work with.
Based on the trailer the film could go either way… but still. I’m excited to see it and form my own opinion.
No comments:
Post a Comment