Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Morvern Callar (2002)

There are two facts that must be dealt with, and are not dealt with often enough, whenever one attempts to tackle this film:

1) Morvern Callar (the character) is quite likely insane. At the very least, she's severely emotionally detached; at worst, she's completely sociopathic. She's not aimless, rebellious, unsure, apathetic or capricious -- she's off her nut, and her actions are not those of someone who is of sound mind.

2) Movern Callar (the film) does not acknowledge Fact #1 or even seem to be aware of it.

What do you get when you put these facts together? You get one of the most singularly unpleasant films I've seen in some time, a film that asks us to accompany this lunatic along her journey in life without giving us a bloody good reason. Yeah, I know... it's not what it's about but how it's about it. But if anything, that makes the film more aggravating, because the filmmaking technique is striking -- so much that it begins to feel like a distraction technique, as if we won't notice the main character's lack of morals or redeeming value if we're too busy watching the pretty colors and grooving on the spiffy soundtrack. The film was based on a novel, and probably worked better on the page; what we have here is extraordinarily well-made but to no purpose. (And it gets docked an extra half-grade for the penultimate scene: You mean to tell me that Morvern's girlfriend isn't even a little mad at her? Oh, go fuck yourself.)

Grade: C-

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