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Synopsis

Margaret centers on a 17-year-old New York City high-school student who feels certain that she inadvertently played a role in a traffic accident that has claimed a woman’s life. In her attempts to set things right she meets with opposition at every step. Torn apart with frustration, she begins emotionally brutalizing her family, her friends, her teachers, and most of all, herself. She has been confronted quite unexpectedly with a basic truth: that her youthful ideals are on a collision course against the realities and compromises of the adult world. –IMDb

Director

Original

Kenneth Lonergan

Kenneth Lonergan is a playwright, screenwriter and director. His film You Can Count On Me, which he wrote and directed, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, won the Sundance 2000 Grand Jury Prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, the NY Film Critics Circle, LA Film Critics Circle, Writers Guild of America and National Board of Review awards for Best Screenplay of 2001, the AFI awards for Best Film and Best New Writer. He co-wrote the film Gangs Of New York which garnered a WGA and Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. As a playwright he has been represented in New York by Lobby Hero, (Playwrights Horizons, John Houseman Theatre, Drama Desk Best Play nominee, Outer Critics Circle Best Play and John Gassner Playwrighting nominee, included in the 2000-2001 Best Plays annual), The Waverly Gallery (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Promenade; 2001 Pulitzer Prize runner-up), and This is our Youth (Drama Desk Best Play nominee). Lobby Hero (Olivier Award… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 84 wall posts.
Picture of a Smith

a Smith

4May13

People are not always screaming heads, sometimes they are quietly driven to tears by an unrelated piece of music.

Picture of Cristiano

Cristiano

30Apr13

Stupendo

Picture of Christoffer Eide

Christoffer Eide

6Apr13

I am amazed at the collective appraisal this mediocre film keep receiving. I was personally left, and remain after repeat viewings, completely underwhelmed and do not agree with there being "too much going on in this movie to take in". It is all there on the surface, overly accessible, everything spelled out in capital letters. 'Margaret' talks down to its audience.

Michelle Arf and Mogambo like this

  • Picture of a Smith

    a Smith

    4May13

    Perhaps littering the first 2/3s, or so, of the movie with dialogues and actions which purposely avoid the issue is obvious (it wasn't to those I watched with, but I'm not good at discerning what is and is not obvious), perhaps the emotions held back are too clear, and, though never stated, the desire to escape from the situation as motivation to detach and rebel (again, I don't know how others see it), but this approach worked for me. Although embellished for film, the way this movie expressed certain emotions related with adolescence and adulthood (and the transition thereof) struck me as accurate.

Picture of Jonathan Cribbs

Jonathan Cribbs

19Mar13

There's just far too much going on in this movie to take it all in in one viewing, and that's why critics were so lukewarm toward it when it came out. Over time, it'll be seen in the same vein as Lonergan's other film. It really is an American masterpiece. Most people just don't know it yet. I've never seen anything like it.

Related Films

Fans

Displaying 5 of 194 fans.

Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

The Noteworthy: Interiors, Zona, and Shots in the Dark

By Adam Cook on July 18, 2012

This week we highlight a unique film journal, a couple of recent Q&As and a review of a new book on Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker.

read article
W184

Daily Briefing. Denis, Guerín, Straub @ Exit Art; New Cinema Lucida

By David Hudson on February 29, 2012

Also: Girish Shambu on the video essay, Brian Darr on Méliès, Kurt Jensen on Mamoulian and more.

read article
W184

Film Comment Selects 2012

By David Hudson on February 18, 2012

“We sort of do the lineup by the seat of our pants.”

read article
W184

Village Voice Poll 2011: Yep, it's "The Tree of Life," but…!

By David Hudson on December 22, 2011

According to the Passiondex™, the real winner this year was made 20 years ago.

read article
W184

Daily Briefing. New Cineaste, New Best-of-2011 Lists

By David Hudson on December 13, 2011

The AV Club‘s and Salon’s are among the new lists. Also, a new issue of Offscreen.

read article
W184

Awards 2011. It's "The Artist" for the Boston Society of Film Critics

By David Hudson on December 12, 2011

Strong showing for Margaret, Hugo and Moneyball.

read article
W184

Daily Briefing. Artforum's Best of 2011

By David Hudson on December 1, 2011

Also: The campaign to give Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret a fair shake.

read article
W184

Kenneth Lonergan's "Margaret"

By David Hudson on September 30, 2011

“What a glorious mess!” Some have fallen in love. Others, not so much: “Messy and disorganized and fundamentally bad.”

read article

Weinberg Reviews MARGARET

By Twitchfilm.com on July 18, 2012
What the hell is this? A 2.5-hour capital-D “DRAMA” movie about a teenage girl who says and does selfish things and causes all sorts of trouble for all the people around her? Why would I care about that
read on Twitchfilm.com

Lists

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Reviews

Displaying 1 of 1

[Last Film I Saw] Margaret

By lasttim​eisaw on July 30, 2012

Title: Margaret
Year: 2011
Language: English
Country: USA
Genre: Drama
Director: Kenneth Lonergan
Writer: Kenneth Lonergan
Cast:
Anna Paquin
J. Smith-Cameron
  read review

Forum

Displaying 5 discussion topics.

Breaking the Sandbox

5 posts by 3 people 5 months ago

Behind the scenes production struggles

3 posts by 3 people 9 months ago

Filmed in 2005, Released in 2011

4 posts by 2 people over 1 year ago

Studio Vendetta: Fox vs. Kenneth Lonergan and Margaret

49 posts by 8 people over 1 year ago