Film Reviews

Morvern Caller

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Carolyn Calder
• Details: UK / 99 mins / (No Cert).

Beautifully made, Morvern Callar is the ambiguous second film from Lynne Ramsay (Ratcatcher). Adapted from Alan Warner's novel, the plot follows the title character (Morton), who awakens one morning to find that her writer boyfriend has taken his own life. Unable to deal with his suicide, Morvern tells her friend, Lanna (McDermott) that he's left her and town. Finding her boyfriend's just finished novel, she sends it off to a London publisher and claims that it's her own work. While she's waiting for a response, she uses the money her partner left her for his funeral and with Lanna, Morvern goes to Spain on holidays. As in her debut, in Morvern Callar, Ramsay is more interested in establishing mood and tone through sound and image than expounding too much time and energy on a dense conventional narrative. It's a bold approach and one for the most part which works extremely well. Admittedly, it's a little cold and wantonly fractured in places, as the director appears to maintain a 'safe' distance between the audience and her central character (who Morton brilliantly inhibits), but Morvern Callar is a film which rewards those who are prepared to work.

Review by Garreth Murphy