Morvern Callar
When Lynne Ramsey’s film adaptaion of the Alan Warner cult novel ‘Movern Callar’ was released in 2002 it got a fair amount of publicity in the smart press. Thereafter it joined the legion of ‘lost’ movies and living in Italy I never got to see it to understand why. Having seen and admired Ramsey’s first movie ‘Ratcatcher’ I didn’t think it could be an out and our dud. Now, thanks to a 5 quid DVD picked up at Fopp in Glasgow I’ve finally got to see what the lack of fuss was about.
The stark, unflinching focus on the female protagonist’s dead end job and dubious morality makes this a movie that doesn’t fit the mainstream multiplex model but cannot be dismissed as an art movie either. In short, it falls between a rock and a hard place which is a great pity because such intelligence and integrity should be applauded not ignored.
What I like about it:
Ramsey’s expressionist visuals and minimalist dialogue ; she said in a Guardian Interview: “With dialogue, people say a lot of things they don’t mean. I like dialogue when it’s used in a way when the body language says the complete opposite. But I love great dialogue… I think expositional dialogue is quite crass and not like real life“.
Samantha Morton’s convincing portrayal as the enigmatic Morvern - like a female version of Camus’ Outsider.
The inspired use of music (soundtrack available through Warp records) featuring Aphex Twin, Can, Broadcast & The Mama’s & Papas .
You can pick up the DVD cheaply and I highly recommend you do.
This film was a revelation, and the use of sound is uncanny. The soundtrack is a firm favourite of mine. I have also seen the dvd of her early films, and they are even more unflinchingly beautiful. ‘Morvern’ has scenes in Spain which are very Antonioni / ‘ThePassenger’ and none the worse for that.
The novel’s great as well, with much more sense of place and family around her home town, which makes the disassociation somehow even sadder - and a happy ending! Well sort of.