Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

avik-basu1889 The character of Morvern is truly unique. She is not someone that one will completely hate. Neither is she a likable, sympathy- inducing individual. Her actions remain suspended in that complicated corridor of uncertainty which makes her an impenetrable, mysterious yet exceedingly interesting anti-hero.'Morvern Callar' is a very visual film. Right from the very first shot Lynne Ramsay creates a very peculiar and surreal tone for the film. She uses vibrant colours quite frequently to express Morvern's mental instability . The moods change quite regularly and accordingly so does the style of capturing different scenes at different points in the story. Even with her first film 'Ratcatcher', Ramsay had shown us her propensity to find poetry in the quietness of the mundane. There are visually poetic moments in 'Morvern Callar' too and in abundance.Samantha Morton has to be admired for her performance. A big chunk of the film is dependent on her facial expressiveness. The character of Morvern is complicated. In some ways she is similar to Julie from Kieślowski's 'Three Colors: Blue'. Both Julie and Morvern make a conscious effort to detach themselves from the past after a tragedy. But Julie is allowed to have an arc, while Ramsey vehemently keeps Morvern from learning any life lessons. Also Julie's reasons for detaching herself from the memories of her family were borne out of her reluctance to get tortured by the pain. Although it is never spelled out, I think Morvern's reasons are borne out of defiance to her late boyfriend. It is mentioned in the film that Morvern used to be under foster care. So it is reasonable to expect that throughout her life, she must have had to struggle to find a sense of acceptance. Her boyfriend's decision to commit suicide in her eyes is a betrayal to the trust between them and a betrayal to the promise of accepting her and being present in her life. So her subsequent actions to categorically defy her dead boyfriend's last wishes is her way to assert herself and break away from her 'selfish' boyfriend's grasps. After this sudden loss, she again becomes a drifter like she must have been under foster care during her childhood.I don't know whether I can watch 'Morvern Callar' too often. It is a perfect example of a film which I like, but admire more for how it allows me to speculate about the character motivations. It presents a very complicated character who is really tough to completely embrace, but easy to remain completely engrossed by. As I have implied previously, I think 'Morvern Callar' is a twisted piece of work with deeply feminist themes simmering underneath the somewhat horrifying and surreal surface, and that makes it worth recommending.

Sindre Kaspersen Scottish screenwriter, cinematographer and director Lynne Ramsay's second feature film which she co-wrote with Italian-born screenwriter Liana Dognini, is an adaptation of a novel by Scottish author Alan Warner from 1995 which was shot on location in United Kingdom, Scotland and Spain. It premiered in the Director's Fortnight section at the 55th Cannes International Film Festival in 2002, was screened in the Visions section at the 27th Toronto International Film Festival in 2002 and is a UK-Canada co-production and was produced by South African-born producer Robyn Slovo, British television producer George Faber and British television producer Charles Pattinson. It tells the story about Morvern Callar, a woman in her twenties who lives with her boyfriend in a Scottish coastal town where she works at a shopping mall with her best friend Lanna. Christmas is nearby, and one day after visiting the local pub with Lanna, Morvern returns to her home where she finds her boyfriend dead on the floor of their living room. Left behind with an unpublished novel, a recorded tape of music and some money, Morvern invites her friend on a holiday trip to Spain.Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay had made three short films and her directorial debut "Ratcatcher" (1999) before she made this innovative and internal study of character, a meditative soul-search which explores the inner life of the mysterious protagonist Morvern Callar. Her subtle camera movements and creative perspectives mirrors a passion and consideration for her motives which is very appealing and with her intimate close ups of Samantha Morton she really gets into the core of the protagonist. While notable for it's naturalistic milieu depictions and the colorful and artistic cinematography by German-born cinematographer Alvin H. Kuchler, this character-driven fictional tale contains a psychedelic score with music from amongst others Apex Twin and The Velvet Underground which increases the cryptic atmosphere.The first image of Samantha Morton's face immediately triggers one's curiosity for the dark haired, mystic and short spoken Morvern Callar who recently lost her lover and who is going through the initial phase of grief. Morvern Callar is an archetype heroine, and after facing a traumatic incident she counterattacks instead of digging herself down. But is she in denial? Is she trying to escape reality? Or is her decision somehow right? The synoptic though ambiguous screenplay aims in on the main character and creates an unforgettable character in this contemplative independent film which is impelled and reinforced by British actress Samantha Morton's transcendent acting performance and the compelling acting performance by Scottish actress Kathleen McDermott. A diverse psychological drama which gained, among other awards, the Award of the Youth for Foreign Film and the C.I.C.A.E. Award at the 55th Cannes Film Festival in 2002, the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress Samantha Morton and Best Technical Achievement Alvin H. Kuchler at the 5th British Independent Film Awards in 2002 and the BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actress Kathleen McDermott at the BAFTA Awards, Scotland in 2002.

Framescourer 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

federovsky Ramsey's second film after the totally impressive Ratcatcher has an air of aimlessness about it. I haven't read the book but the film has only one idea: how does a girl behave when she finds her boyfriend dead with slashed wrists on the floor of their flat? Callar's response is almost post-contemporary - what happens here could simply never have been conceived of more than a few years ago. We follow Samantha Morton (as Callar) through subsequent hazy meanderings with her girlfriend. We assume she is in severe temporary shock at the tragedy - so the creeping suspicion that she is simply a half-wit is disappointing, though all the soft drugs confounds the issue. Life seems impoverished here, as if the city has sucked something out of people. Even death is meaningless.The early part of the film looks dangerously like Catherine Breillat territory - the last thing we need is an original talent like Ramsey to start ripping people off - and I think she was only partly able to haul herself out of the Breillat groove. The tension lapses completely during the second half when Callar goes on holiday in Spain, and there is a silly scene when she meets publishers and passes herself off as the writer of her dead boyfriend's novel that we could have done without.On the whole, very nicely executed though; a fine performance by Morton, a great and atmospheric opening, and some cool music including Aphex Twin make it worth watching. Pity there wasn't more to it.