The Worst Film Ever

the audience applauded

Nice effects though.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

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.

Samantha Morton is a talented English actress perhaps best known for her role as the abused psychic Agatha in Steven Spielberg's sci-fi thriller Minority Report (2002), but she has delivered award-winning performances in many other films as well. One of them is Lynne Ramsay's 2002 drama Morvern Callar, which was chosen as the most underrated film of the past decade by The Guardian newspaper at the end of 2009.Based on the 1995 novel by Alan Warner, Morvern Callar is the story of an alienated woman of the same name (played by Morton), who discovers her boyfriend James has committed suicide on Christmas day. He has left behind his unpublished novel, some money and a note telling Morvern to send the manuscript to a publisher – she does, but only after inserting her own name as the author of the novel. With James' money, Morvern and her best friend Lanna (Kathleen McDermott) make a trip to Spain, but can traveling and meeting new guys ultimately do anything to get Morvern out of her emotional vacuum on which James' death only appears to have a negligible effect?The main focus is on observing Morvern's character as she wanders through whatever situations she encounters: wild parties, work shifts at a supermarket, a Spanish carnival. It looks like she has little connection to social expectations: she lives with James' dead body for days before getting rid of it by herself and has no second thoughts about submitting his novel as her own. Her portrayal makes one wonder how she could ever talk about her feelings, when she appears to be devoid of them in the first place; even her occasional bouts of joyfulness are little more than ripples on her seemingly undisturbed surface. Morvern's delicate development over the course of the story can be contrasted to the nature of her carefree friend Lanna, who cannot understand the ambiguous nature of Morvern's restlessness. Only hinting, never proclaiming, the film advances to its hauntingly open ending that provides few clear answers.The technical style of the film remains calm and quite cold, carrying a feel of loneliness and detachment even in the crowded party scenes. The cinematography, wide shots of Scottish and Spanish landscapes and the mise en scène also enhance the atmosphere beautifully, as does the sparse use of non-diegetic score. The indie music songs in Morvern's earphones sound very nice too, but luckily avoid coming across as overly hipsterish. Acting-wise, Morton fits in the role of the worn-out Morvern magnificently and McDermott captures the ditzy aura of Lanna at ease too.The film's slow pace and reluctance to explain its characters' motivations render it unsuitable for those with short attention spans, but admirers of vaguer and more ambitious cinema may find it very enjoyable. I am not sure I agree with The Guardian's suggestion of Morvern Callar being the most underrated film of the decade, but I do think it is worth more attention than it has been getting (at least I had not heard anything about it before seeing it last night). In the end, it is not for everyone, but few great movies are.

A dark film, one of the darkest i've ever seen, yet almost comic with its playfulness between the morbidity of the plot and the use of music and camera usage. The soundtrack is also brilliant: you would expect a film with such a dark plot line to stick with the usual musics associated with its theme, however the use of unnaturally cheery music is excellent, and hilarious at some points. this film is an all round work of art, though perhaps a little slow moving for some people's tastes. i however thoroughly enjoyed it, and hope to watch many more films like it. one of the films strongest points has to be its use of camera: the angles, shots and movements are amazing in points, not to mention the scenery used is beautiful. the ironies of life in this film are excellent, and i believe it is an excellent representation of modern life for the working class, and how disturbed a human mind can become.