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Morvern Callar
Cowboy Pictures


5.5

based on 24 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 18 votes
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FILM:

Ratcatcher

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Samantha Morton, Kathleen McDermott, Raife Patrick Burchell, Dan Cadan, Carolyn Calder, Jim Wilson, Dolly Wells, Ruby Milton, and Linda McGuire

An aimless supermarket clerk (Morton) in a small Scottish town gets a new lease on life upon discovering her boyfriend dead under their Christmas tree.

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Liana Dognini Lynne Ramsay Alan Warner (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Lynne Ramsay
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 16, 2003 Video: December 16, 2003 Theatrical: December 20, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	97 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK

Best Actress (Morton) and Best Cinematographer, 2002 British Independent Film Awards

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Washington Post Desson Thomson

As Morvern, Morton is disconcertingly enigmatic, often bordering on catatonic. But she carries the movie effortlessly. And even though we're on the outside looking in, she carries us along, too.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Ramsay reaches out boldly with a film that is as unsettling as it is minimalist.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

A work of astonishing delicacy and force, a tone poem about the Frankenstein jolts that all of us, at one time or another, have to live through.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

(Morton's) character here is emotionally mute -- though Morvern speaks, she can't or won't reveal what's in her heart -- and her performance is brilliant from start to finish.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

I think the answer is right there in the film, but less visible to American viewers because we are less class-conscious than the filmmakers.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A gossamer tale about a heavy subject -- a passive creature who slowly emerges as the active author of her own life.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Morton deserves an Oscar nomination, but she is unlikely to get one. The movie is too dark and out of the mainstream to impress the conservative fogies who vote for the prizes.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

There are two reasons Ramsay succeeds with a story that might at best be called morbid: She visually transforms the dreary expanse of dead-end distaste the characters inhabit into a poem of art, music and metaphor -- and she has the perfect actress to embody Morvern.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

This minimalist film is slightly hobbled by its minimal plot; it's the crucial difference between a movie with moments of greatness and a great movie.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

A strange and beautiful film.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Ramsay's second feature is an extraordinary adaptation of fellow-Scot Alan Warner's acclaimed novel.

Dallas Observer Andy Klein

One of the glories of the film is that Ramsay keeps us rigorously to Morvern's point of view without ever being explicit about what's going on in her head.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Morvern Callar not only attempts to reveal an interior life, usually the province of novels, but also focuses on the interior life of a woman who refuses to open up to anyone.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Ramsay is experimental, unconventional, and forever reaching at the gorgeousness in grief and despair. Her film moves slow as molasses, slow as paint drying -– and all the better to see the colors and the complexities.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Morton acts up a storm, and Ramsay continues her rise as England's hottest young female filmmaker.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

In Morvern Callar, the subject matter may be morbid and unappealing, but the director handles it with a visual poetry and an eye for hidden beauty that marks a filmmaker of the first order.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

With little dialogue to assist her -- just the strains of that wonderfully organic music -- she still manages to suggest the internal struggle, and to slowly reveal a fierce toughness that flies in the face of conventional morality.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

What gives the movie real flesh and fantasy is the actress playing this part, the incandescent Morton.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

It's a smartly surreal little movie, and again shows why, whenever there's a role that calls for an actress who can speak volumes without much dialogue (as in "Minority Report" and "Sweet and Lowdown"), the call goes out to Morton.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Strange, moody film.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Despite grim doings involving sexual hysteria and chopped-up body parts (don't ask), Ramsay and Morton fill this character study with poetic force and buoyant feeling.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

More engrossing than convincing.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A movie's refusal to judge bad behavior can be a subtle way of trumping the audience -- a passive-aggressive form of one-upmanship.

Chicago Reader Meredith Brody

Fans of director Lynne Ramsay's first movie, the bleak “Ratcatcher,” won't be surprised that this little existential exercise makes “The Strangef” look like a funwagon.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.5 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Matthew Z. gave it a1:
There are hardly words to describe just how terribly awful this movie is. It's a pedantic wannabe French film with a Scottish accent. Save some time and watch a wigged out friend of yours smoke a cigarette -- that's about what this film adds up to. This will be the last time I ever trust the Cannes Film Festival.

Rory O. gave it a10:
I liked the sex bit.

Anne L. gave it a10:
It's a continually surprising film. The cinematography is exquisite, Samantha Morton acts out a brilliantly dull sadness, and the soundtrack gives it an indescribable power.

Mike P. gave it a 10:
This film brilliantly captured what its like to be young and impulsive.

J. L. gave it a 3:
No real narrative arc. This could have been a short. The conclusion is one which is far too predictable.

Sam M. gave it a 3:
Very slow.. Not much of a story.

Quigley Q. gave it a 10:
Since no one has mentioned it yet, I will cast my ten just for the music alone. A perfect affective accompaniment to her grieving and regenration. In particular, the static and still shots are so well composed and indicative of Morvern's aesthetic and personal relationship to the world.

Morvern Callar Cowboy Pictures

Morvern Callar
Cowboy Pictures