Good concept, poorly executed.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Really didn't enjoy it at all.I like films with depth, meaning, etc, and thought this would be one of those. But it wasn't. I didn't feel any connection to the character(s), the settings, the ideas. Nothing!All it shows is a poor girl coping very unrealistically with her boyfriend's suicide. It seemed like the kind of film that would be much better in the form of a book. The imagery and sequences in the movie just didn't give any sense of connection or understanding with any of it at all. Maybe in a book there'd be more chance to explain everything in finer detail. And when I say 'explain', I simply mean describing the settings, the emotions, etc.The whole film was very cardboard to me.Sorry!Update: I've just discovered this film IS based on a book! So... what can I say... Director reads good book, decides desperately to make a film of it, and fails. Like most films that are based on books...

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 Left behind with an unpublished novel, a recorded tape of music and some money, Morvern invites her friend on a holiday trip to Spain.Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay had made three short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.

(There are Spoilers) Out of the ordinary film about a somewhat whacked out young woman Morvern Callar, Samantha Morton, who's discovery of her live in boyfriend James Gillespie dead in their apartment on Christmas Eve drives her off the deep end.James for some reason killed himself by slashing his wrists just as he finished his great Scottish novel. Leaving instructions on his computer, but not saying why he did himself in, for Morvern James tells her to get his "litereary masterpiece" published as a last favor for him. If she wasn't nuts already, before discovering James dead, Morvern completely losses it not even bothering to report James' death to the local police or health department. This has James lying in the apartment for almost a week slowly decomposing, as well as attracting flies and roaches, where Morvern had to finally get rid of him. She does this ghastly job by chopping James' corpse up into little pieces and dropping them off in the woods outside of town.Now with her wiring James' novel to British book publishers Tom Boddington, James Wilson, and his girlfriend Venessa, Linda McGuire, Morvern plans to get in touch with them in Andulucia in warm and sunny Southern Spain, from cold and damp Argyll Scotland, to see just what they both think of it. Morvern not only sent the novel to the London book publishers but also, something that they don't know, put her name on the manuscript as if she, not James, wrote it.The remainder of the film has Morvern who empties out her late boyfriends James ATM account, of over 3,000 pound sterling, together with her best friend Lanna, Kathleen McDermott, traveling to Spain for a long vacation. Lanna has no idea of what her friend Morvern is really up to in that she keeps James' death from her as well as his unpublished novel. Lanna doesn't know that she's only going along with Morvern just to keep her company until she contacts Tom & Venessa who by now are very interested in having her ,or really James, book published. We have a number of sexual escapades with Morvern and Lanna with some young men they meet at a local hotel in Spain with Morvern getting seriously involved with the boy from hotel-room #1022, Raife Patrick Burchell.Raife had just learned that his mother passed away and Morvern hearing him sobbing in his hotel-room offers him comfort, as well as sex, to ease his terrible loss. It seemed to me that Morvern saw in Raife the same loneliness and depression that she's now suffering from because of her lover, James Gillespie, suicide.It's later when Morvern has Lanna rush out of the hotel, with only her underwear on, for a taxi ride into Central Spain that Lanna finally realized that her good friend is on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. Leaving Lanna alone, with enough cash to get back to Scotland, Morvern finally gets in touch with Tom & Vanessa about her book that their so impressed with. It's then when Morvern starts to get second thoughts in what she's doing, stealing James manuscript. But with the 100,000 pounds sterling advance for her, or James, book offered by Tom & Venessa has Morvern suddenly change her mind.****SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON****Half baked ending with Morvern back in Argyll Scotland, with a check for 100,000 pound sterling, getting in touch with a surprised Lanna at the local watering hole. Offering to take Lanna on another European tour Morvern is rebuffed by Lanna telling her that the boring life in Argyll is just find with her. Lanna seems to have had enough of Morvern and her hair-brained ideas of what a good time really is. Alone with Lanna not there to share her money with her Morvern is last seen sitting on the dock of the railroad station waiting for the train to pull up and take her for a long ride out of town.Despite having a very confusing story that just goes on and on without, in most scenes, making any sense at all "Morvern Callar" has some of the best and eye popping, mostly in the scenes in Spain, cinematography I've ever seen. It's for that and that reason alone that "Morvern Callar" is more then worth watching and sitting through.

My wife and I watch a film every night with no distractions, and mostly artsy films that require thought. I have tons of patience for films that are slow to blossom. My wife has double the attention span that I do. All that being said-- this film is just plain empty and BORING! It went nowhere. Never blossomed. It started fairly strong with a promising plot...then she bakes cookies...goes to Spain....she sulks, she stares....the credits roll. Uneven, full of holes, false starts & dead ends. We FF'd through several extended sequences of her just staring off into space. Artificial depth was implied when she played with the mud and cried. Zzzz...... It's like a beautifully shot chick-flick that's pretending to be deep or artsy. You never get to know nor understand Morvern at all. About halfway through you just don't care anymore. We just wanted to see at least one of the plot lines develop. Don't waste your time on this. I'm shocked it scores so high.