The Worst Film Ever

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I really enjoy Ramsay's style and think Morvern Callar is a careful, artistically crafted film, but the lack of dialogue and plot kept me from enjoying it more. I will say that it was a very poor decision to watch this while being quite tired, and that may have also influenced my enjoyment. I was impressed by Morton's performance and Ramsay did clearly show Morvern's struggle with avoiding grief and trying to run away from it, unable to face her life head on. That was a very interesting and well developed theme, but beyond that, there was little dialogue and her interactions with Lanna didn't reveal much aside from Morvern's introverted nature. The lack of consistent, propelling plot and limited exposition in regards to Morvern's mind or intentions (along with my tired, near-sleep state when watching) made Morvern Callar a cool, good watch but not memorable or exceptional in any element.

Morvern Callar is a gross, selfish woman, and yet her story is fascinatingly told. I really liked the first half in Scotland as a poor working class youth, but when she vacationed in Spain, I felt that the film lost it's gritty, nasty edge. Paradise is not where this film shines. It shines in blood, and muck. Some films are meant to be purely unpleasant. By far, this is Lynne Ramsay's finest screen achievement.

This is a mystery movie. Morvern Callar's boyfriend has just committed suicide at the start of the film. No reason is initially given as to why a handsome and talented young writer should do this, and the remainder of the movie is dedicated to explaining why he has done so, using the "show, not tell" method. After the first hour in Morvern's company, I was already losing the will to live. I perked up a bit when there was the hope that she might be gored to death during the running of the bulls, but this came to nothing. If I felt that way after an hour or so, no wonder her boyfriend topped himself. He had to put up with the retarded sociopath 24/7.Morton is a competent actress, but she has appeared in some real dross. This one takes the cake.To be fair, the musical soundtrack is not at the same level of competence as the rest of the film. It is worse.

A magnificent but modest film telling an oblique, impressionistic story of a Glaswegian teenager growing up. Samantha Morton oscillates through the film with all the elastic contradictions of an adolescent girl: insecurity, abandon and the curious cocktail of the two when it comes to investigating her own sexuality.At the heart of the story is an act of opportunism as Morvern Callar appropriates a boyfriend's work as her own. This episode is recounted in one of my favourite sequences of all cinema, a flour fight over a dead body. Lynne Ramsay conjures magnificent photography, images as indelible, iconic and mystifying as the Emily Mortimer condiment-sex in Young Adam or Derek Jacobi approaching the canvas as Bacon in Maybury's Love Is The Devil.Needless to say this is not some confusing one-off - a wonderful, Iberian-bleached sequence hints at a conscious horizon of existential catastrophe for Morvern and later sequences of love making have Latin warmth; ardour and bliss in equal, low-key measure. 8/10