Martin Scorsese called a 2006 cut of Kenneth Longergan‘s new film “a masterpiece.” Five years and many edits later Margaret, about a 17-year-old New York woman dealing with guilt and grief in the wake of a tragic bus crash, has finally been given a release date!… in the US at least.
These aren’t the shiniest stills ever to pique interest in a film, but I dig lead actress Anna Paquin (True Blood), as well as co-star Mark Ruffalo who worked with Lonergan on the highly praised You Can Count on Me. Margaret also stars Matt Damon (The Bourne Trilogy, but are brackets are really necessary here?) and Alison Janney (The West Wing).
Shooting of the film wrapped in 2005 but problems arose during post-production, when Fox Searchlight demanded Lonergan’s three hour edit be cut down to two. Legal battles ensued and years passed, but a 149 minute version of Margaret will finally be released in the US next month on 30 September.
An IMDB reviewer, who saw the same 3 hour cut as Scorsese, gave it a 1/2 star rating and said it was so bad that people walked out of the theatre. So maybe Margaret won’t be for everyone, but I think it’s safe to say we can expect something between a 0.5/10 and a masterpiece!
Do you think something that takes 6 years to edit will be really good or really bad? How do you feel about Matt Damon? If your answer is ‘not good,’ I would then ask you: have you seen him in 30 Rock?
No New Zealand release date has been given yet, but we’ll keep you posted.
