Sorry for the long break, but I've been battling that flu bug that is apparently everywhere. In my feverish funk I managed to watch Kenneth Longergan's infamous film Margaret, which I thought was pretty great. It's a long sophisticated take on an Upper West Side prep school girl's emotional breakdown after witnessing a horrific accident on the street (that she may or may not have caused). Anna Paquin is perfect as Lisa Cohen, who is often unlikable but completely real; she seems gripped by emotions that she does not remotely understand.
I hope Lonergan gets a chance to make another movie. This one had a delayed release because of his inability to turn in a 150 minute cut to satisfy the production companies. Lawsuits were filed, and in the end, Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker edited the film. That's pretty good punishment for being unable to do something yourself. It's actually a brilliant edit: moody at times, but incredibly paced.
There is no character named "Margaret" in the film. The title comes from the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem "Spring & Fall: to a Young Child." Here's the justly famous poem:
Márgarét, áre you gríeving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leáves like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! ás the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you wíll weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It ís the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.
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