Margaret (2011)
A young woman witnesses a bus accident, and is caught up in the aftermath, where the question of whether or not it was intentional affects many people's lives. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Kenneth Lonergan
Written By: Kenneth Lonergan
Starring: Matt Damon, Matthew Broderick, Mark Ruffalo, Anna Paquin, Olivia Thirlby, Kieran Culkin, John Gallagher Jr., Jeannie Berlin, Sarah Steele, J. Smith-Cameron, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Brittany Underwood
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Where to Stream
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Margaret belongs to 40 collections
1. boobs (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket - 51 stars)
2. 21st Century Top 250 (collaborative: moderated by dardan - 49 stars)
3. Onion AV Club: The New Cult Canon (collaborative: moderated by theficionado - 28 stars)
4. Female protagonist (collaborative: moderated by djross - 25 stars)
5. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)
6. Alternate versions / cuts (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 9 stars)
7. Skandies (collaborative: moderated by toro913 - 7 stars)
8. TSPDT 21st Century's Top 250 Most Acclaimed Films (2012) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 6 stars)
9. Best by different standards (public: sesito71 - 6 stars)
10. Indiewire's 100 Best Movies of the 2010s (collaborative: moderated by offlineoz - 4 stars)
11. Djross great movies (public: djross - 4 stars)
12. mother-daughter relationship (collaborative: moderated by livelove - 3 stars)
13. Djross best movies about children (public: djross - 3 stars)
14. The AV Club Best Films of 2011 (public: TychoCelchuu - 3 stars)
15. Djross film as art (public: djross - 3 stars)
16. Djross English-language feature film of the year (public: djross - 2 stars)
17. Super Champion Film Zone top 100 of 21st century (public: snallygaster - 2 stars)
18. Black List Films (public: jimmyjazz - 2 stars)
19. The AV Club's 100 Best Movies of the 2010s (public: TychoCelchuu - 2 stars)
20. BBC's The 21st Century's 100 Greatest Films (collaborative: moderated by jeff_h - 1 star)
21. Availability: Disney+ and Star Canada (collaborative: moderated by geohawk - 1 star)
22. Richard Brody's 26 Best Films of 2011 (public: TychoCelchuu - 1 star)
23. A.V. Club's 100 Best Films of the Decade (so far) (public: kevinjoseph - 1 star)
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26. 2011 US Theatrical (collaborative: moderated by DrBroel)
27. Teacher-student sexual/romantic relationship (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed)
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Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 4 |  |
cambel | 90 94th |
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Honestly, I was expecting this to be overrated just because people were angry at those jerks at Fox Searchlight. It still looks like a mess, yet this is one of the most intriguing and thought provoking pieces I had seen for a while.
UPDATE: Just saw the extended cut and loved it. I'm afraid if I watch this again, or a longer version it would be one my favorite films
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| 3 |  |
djross | 86 96th |
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Despite some missteps and timeline implausibility (court cases seem to develop and resolve themselves in far speedier fashion than vacation planning), this exploration of disaffected adolescents who find themselves entering today's disconnected urban milieu is one of the most interesting and genuine cinematic attempts to diagnose contemporary society to be found in recent years. Saw the extended version.
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| 3 |  |
JakeAesthete | 92 92nd |
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As imperfect as any film attempting so much is bound to be (i can see why it was such a bitch to edit, even at three hours there are parts that feel choppy, along with bits i would have personally excised), but pretty staggering for trying just the same. It says a lot that at the end of such a long film, i kind of just wanted to watch it again. If Charlie Kaufman is the closest thing we have to a cinematic David Foster Wallace, Lonergan just might be our Jonathan Franzen...
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| 2 |  |
walkabout | 80 90th |
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My early reaction to the theatrical release: It gets a bit (only a bit) messy at times, but in the end this is quite a profound (and extremely ambitious) movie about death, life, growing-up and post 9/11 NYC. Lonergan takes a risky path, forcing us to enter into a troubled teenager's head. And it kinda has this late '70s vibe, even reminding Woody Allen's works from that period at times. I'd really like to see the Lonergan cut now, please.
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| 2 |  |
AFlickering | 8 98th |
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(extended version obvs, although ive seen both) remember when everyone was like 25TH HOUR is the definitive post-9/11 movie? and remember when yall were like PULSE is the 21st century's most haunting dance of disconnection? nope. aaaaaaand nope.
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| 2 |  |
KasperL | 85 93rd |
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An affecting character portrait with excellent acting from Paquin, Smith-Cameron and Ruffalo. I watched the Extended Cut which runs three hours and isn't a minute too long.
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| 2 |  |
muutanet | 87 93rd |
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Pretty challenge work. Excellent directing, easy flow acting and brilliant storytelling. The best work by Anna Paquin though I do not really follow her care. Except True Blood. And I was stunned by the reality kind of acting. All were acting top notch, but I specially liked the perfect combination of mum and teenager. The mum was J. Smith-Cameron (who happened to act in True Blood as well).
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| 2 |  |
Barthalen | 78 74th |
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It's not really focused and might seem a bit drawn-out at times, but this drama about a teenager (a very impressive and believable Paquin) dealing with a tragedy and the moral dilemmas coming from that was so well-made that it's hard not to be swept along. Features the most naturalistic mother-daughter relationship I've seen in ages. Actually, all the relationships between the characters are interesting, fragile and believable.
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| 2 |  |
Timon88 | 97 99th |
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Lonergan can tell a story about actual people like no one else in movies today. He provides an intelligent road map to wayward human emotions and makes them startlingly, beautifully real. People--like Martin Scorsese--that called this a masterpiece were right. Lonergan's talent is on the order of Orson Welles (though of a different stripe altogether). I just hope he isn't cast out of the (abominable) "system" the way Welles was. (All those lawsuits over this film don't augur well for that,)
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| 2 |  |
Bown | 93 96th |
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(Extended Cut) A world-class depiction of teenage narcissism and post-9/11 tragedy, and perhaps the best piece of media I’ve ever consumed about the way no one person’s story is, or could ever be, the centre of the universe. Took me a long portion of the running time to pin down, but once I did, I had no doubt that it was a masterpiece.
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| 2 |  |
tinysausage | 83 91st |
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I loved this. Paquin gives a brave performance of an unlikeable teen that captures the messiness and unwise passions of youth. The acting is uniformly excellent, really understated and naturalistic performances, with volumes spoken by an expression. I hope we someday get to see the long version.
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| 2 | DougieD | 95 91st |
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A masterpiece that wasn't given a fair chance by its distributor. Laboured in post-production hell for six years due to a battle between director Kenneth Lonergan and Fox Searchlight. It's a shame, because the film is one of the best of the past decade. It's an emotionally devastating look at a disaster in post-9/11 NYC. Career best work from Anna Paquin and superb support from big names (Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo) and unknowns (J. Smith-Cameron and Jeannie Berlin.
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| 2 |  |
bakcheia | 92 89th |
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This movie is one of the best ensemble pieces I have seen in a while. It is emotionally riveting, and really reflects the confusion and moral conflict one would experience in Lisa's (Paquin) position. The editing is messy and I feel the movie could be cleaned up a little and shortened into a more cohesive whole, but damn what a script and what a cast. Superb acting and writing really bring this piece to life. I would have a hard time cutting it down too, it was that compelling.
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| 2 |  |
rosenritter | 10 98th |
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(extended cut) I have grown up in a small town at the edge of the world and lived a solitary life. To see the inherent strangeness that city life has always held for me captured on film like this was edifying and cathartic beyond belief. I might have cried continuously for the full 186 minutes, had I not been completely drained after 30.
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| 1 |  |
CCLZA | 85 89th |
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The three hour cut is engrossing, compelling and atmospheric, with actors playing to perfection a very ambitious screenplay seeking for truth in the shape of moral struggles and human interaction.
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| 1 |  |
JooJoo | 4 55th |
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I can't help but think better and better of this as time goes on. Unfortunately, I hated nearly every character which can limit my view of it all.
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| 1 |  |
Icarus | 91 91st |
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An impressive piece of work from Lonergan, Paquin, and company. The film traces the difficulty of dealing with trauma, the communication difficulties that mar our relationships, and the hard lessons and growth that occur as we grow up and mature. Lonergan's visual style has matured, the outdoor shooting giving a sense of place, while closed spaces inside show us the narrowness of Lisa's world. Add to that a deeply moving conclusion, and this film is one I look forward to revisiting often.
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| 1 |  |
Snazz | 60 51st |
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Very emotional strong, and as such a strong performance by Paquin, but the many melodramatic scenes turn more and more into her just yelling and screaming. Good performance by the supporting roles, which in hindsight probably should have been given more screentime.
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| 1 | sellis | 85 75th |
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Not as precise in its recklessness as You Can Count on Me - and recklessness and spontaneity is what Lonergan is seeking, I think. He's searching for the qualities that make up the reality of our relationships - the qualities that elude cinema. In this way, he's like Cassavetes, though perhaps in a more writerly fashion. The student-teacher scene is the only thing that felt really out of place. Besides that, its meandering nature was rather lovely.
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| 1 | getmoney | 89 86th |
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Very interesting and affecting.
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| 1 |  |
snowgray | 88 90th |
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If you read the movie as an extended gloss on the poem "Spring and Fall" by Gerard Manley Hopkins, which is read a little more than halfway through in Lisa's English class, it's a fucking amazing movie. Without the interplay between the poem and the movie, the movie is only so-so, but if you spend a long time with the poem, the various ways the movie hits on those themes are amazing.
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| 1 |  |
Judge Holden | 4 51st |
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Paquin is excellent, but the film itself is marred by a meandering, overextended plot. It's a shame that Margaret is a complete mess, as there's probably a pretty fascinating movie buried underneath. The opening bus crash illustrates what could have been if only the film wasn't tortured in post-production hell.
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| 1 | CarsonWid | 68 50th |
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I'm not entirely sure what to think. It was as if all the actors were purposely giving poor acting performances to make their characters seem worse and more fake. So, it's either really poor acting or really good acting to make it bad. Either way, an interesting movie that was successful in pissing me off.
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| 1 |  |
deaddilly | 75 60th |
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Takes about 25-30 minutes to stop feeling like a Lifetime Original, and slowly consumes you with its overbearing realism and depth of emotion. Exhausting.
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| 1 |  |
jack parsons | 10 92nd |
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Wow. This was an exhausting ride, but the characters and their subsequent emotions and complete different personalities were brilliant. At any point, any character could choose to be deceptive, brutally honest, dramatic, or emotional - and we never know what we are going to get next. It's long, and the best cut is even longer, but it's a worthwhile experience!
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| 1 |  |
Rufam | 75 72nd |
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Compelling and challenging meditation on teenage self-centeredness, guilt and post 9/11 America. Although not always focused, this one benefits from a strong cast portraying strong characters and sharp, subversive writing which hints at several issues without ever mouth-feeding the audience.
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| 1 |  |
maakal | 73 47th |
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I'm still not sure if I hated or loved this film, but at the very least it kept me pretty engrossed throughout. I didn't really buy Anna Paquin as a high-school student, but she did a good job regardless of looking too old.
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| 1 |  |
fartblaster | 100 99th |
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WATCH MARGARET
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| 1 |  |
Seethruskin | 7 99th |
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I'm not entirely sure this isn't the greatest movie ever made.
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| 1 |  |
Hofschneider | 75 46th |
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I think all the things the movie wanted to talk to me about - the anger that blurs into revenge, the individuality of grief, the inability to communicate, the pseudo-wisdom of youth, New York as this big fake drama-pot -, all that turned against the movie itself while watching it for me. Therefore I'm not sure if I just didn't like the movie or if refused it heavily, especially its main character, which basically means the movie did an awesome job to get to me. But I will never watch it again.
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| 1 |  |
eCitizen | 30 18th |
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A young woman accidentally contributes to the death of a woman crossing the street. Her haunting guilt leads her on a quest for accountability, including from herself. Very dramatic and tragic. There are many good scenes, and the ending is highly emotional. The dialog throughout feels real. Worth watching, but the message is rather obvious. However, there is nothing particularly memorable about this movie.
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| 1 |  |
guvolefou | 83 85th |
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Kendini gerçekleştiremeyen Amerika'lı bir üst-orta sınıf ergenin adaleti sağlama girişimlerinin nasıl ayaklarına dolanacağını bir romanı andıran senaryosuyla ve teknik incelikleriyle ne de güzel anlatıyor öyle.
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| 1 | caprimode | 85 80th |
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An intelligent, and troubled, teen girl deals with witnessing, perhaps causing in her mind, the death of a stranger. The movie really delves deep into the psyche and the philosophies of said teen girl, and there is a lot of discovery about how it feels to be a youth in today's society. Some of the parts aren't for everyone (e.g. extended classroom debates), but these moments are the ones that capture the heart of our youth the best. Really good film.
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| 1 | BlakeEngel | 9 71st |
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Having not seen the extended cut, I find it hard to believe Lonergan could better this edition. This is almost a story about nothing, about how tragedy happens and the world continues around it. In one moment, Lisa hunts for truth. In another, she argues with her mother. Nico Muhly's incredible soundtrack underscores the basic human question: is there a difference between any moment in one's life, or in all our lives? Lonergan's film is like an opera about how life just goes on and on and on and
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| 1 |  |
feublo | 85 74th |
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I damn near had a panic attack during the office scene with the lawyer and their group call. Adolescence can feel so dramatic and yet we sometimes dismiss how our curiosity shapes who we are. Slowly weighs you down with life's purpose and it's deeper understanding.
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| Average Percentile 64.06% from 693 Ratings |  |