Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Margaret
2011
****
Director: Kenneth Lonergan
Cast: Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, Kieran Culkin, Olivia Thirlby, Rosemarie DeWitt, J. Smith-Cameron, Matthew Broderick, Allison Janney, Jean Reno, Jeannie Berlin

Lisa Cohen, a 17-year-old New Yorker, inadvertedly causes a terrible bus accident. Although the tragedy fuels the narrative, the film is in fact about Lisa, who is forever changed by her guilt. She's a typically thin-skinned and self-absorbed teenager who is yet to lose her innocence and idealism towards life. Kenneth Lonergan's follow-up to the excellent You Can Count on Me finished shooting back in 2006. It took another five years for the director and the studio to agree on a cut. The released 2½ hour version feels incomplete, particularly towards the end, but this brutally honest and rough-around-the-edges drama compels you to take a journey with these characters, no matter how impulsive, imperfect or infuriating they can be. Anna Paquin gives a feisty central performance, and J. Smith-Cameron as the mother and Jeannie Berlin as the new friend give excellent support.