Margaret
Directed by Kenneth Lonergan
SPECIAL RETURN SF ENGAGEMENT 2011’s critical cause celebre returns to San Francisco. A discursive examination of moral compasses, it’s the story of a verbally expressive Upper West Side teen named Lisa Cohen (memorably played by Anna Paquin) and her feelings of guilt over a bus accident she is involved in. Using Lisa as the film’s prime mover, director Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count on Me) develops a panoptic view of the situation, using a wide variety of characters to riff on post-9/11 sensibilities, anti-Semitism, the legal system, sexuality, opera, poetry, literature, and more. Chosen by many critics as one of their favorite films of the year but released in only a few cities, Margaret was the focus of a widely signed petition asking the distributor to make the film available to critics groups for awards voting. The Film Society is delighted to welcome this remarkable work back to town.
TRAILER
USA 2011, 150 min. Written by Kenneth Lonergan. Photographed by Ryszard Lenczewski. With Anna Paquin, Mark Ruffalo, Jean Reno, Matt Damon. Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Tickets $9 for SFFS members, $11 general, $10 senior/student/disabled. Box office open online at sffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema.
 | Read the San Francisco Chronicle review |
TRAILER
For all its awkwardness and uncertainty, the film is a city symphony, romantic yet scathing, lyrical with street life and vaulting skylines, reckless with first adventure... —Richard Brody, New Yorker
Paquin creates that rarest of things: a profoundly unsympathetic character who is mysteriously, mesmerically, operatically compelling to watch. —Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
No group of actors in a film ever had so little time to establish so much complexity or succeeded with such consummate skill. —Financial Times
An ambitious, novelistic, sprawling story that attempts to show a young woman's internal development while simultaneously conveying the soul of modern-day New York. —Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
“Margaret, written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count on Me), starring Anna Paquin with key supporting performances from Matt Damon and Mark Ruffalo, is the best film of 2011.” – Karina Longworth, Los Angeles Times
“[Margaret’s] sheer energy and dramatic vehemence, alongside that raw lead performance, puts it way ahead of more tastefully formed dramas.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“This is frayed-edges filmmaking at its finest. 5 stars.” – Time Out New York
The 7th best film of the year – Village Voice poll
Kenneth Longergan’s epic-but-intimate Anna Paquin vehicle finally saw the light of day this past year after a very long stretch in stasis, emerging as one of the most passionately adored of art-house cause celebres when it all but disappeared from the few theatres it screened in within just a few weeks of opening. Thanks to a host of stunning performances (Paquin, Jeannie Berlin, J. Smith-Cameron) and its bracing style and thematic import, Margaret is poised for much wider admiration come its eventual DVD release. – Sight on Sound, Best of 2011
Paquin creates that rarest of things: a profoundly unsympathetic character who is mysteriously, mesmerically, operatically compelling to watch. —Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
No group of actors in a film ever had so little time to establish so much complexity or succeeded with such consummate skill. —Financial Times
An ambitious, novelistic, sprawling story that attempts to show a young woman's internal development while simultaneously conveying the soul of modern-day New York. —Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
“Margaret, written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count on Me), starring Anna Paquin with key supporting performances from Matt Damon and Mark Ruffalo, is the best film of 2011.” – Karina Longworth, Los Angeles Times
“[Margaret’s] sheer energy and dramatic vehemence, alongside that raw lead performance, puts it way ahead of more tastefully formed dramas.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“This is frayed-edges filmmaking at its finest. 5 stars.” – Time Out New York
The 7th best film of the year – Village Voice poll
Kenneth Longergan’s epic-but-intimate Anna Paquin vehicle finally saw the light of day this past year after a very long stretch in stasis, emerging as one of the most passionately adored of art-house cause celebres when it all but disappeared from the few theatres it screened in within just a few weeks of opening. Thanks to a host of stunning performances (Paquin, Jeannie Berlin, J. Smith-Cameron) and its bracing style and thematic import, Margaret is poised for much wider admiration come its eventual DVD release. – Sight on Sound, Best of 2011
USA 2011, 150 min. Written by Kenneth Lonergan. Photographed by Ryszard Lenczewski. With Anna Paquin, Mark Ruffalo, Jean Reno, Matt Damon. Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Tickets $9 for SFFS members, $11 general, $10 senior/student/disabled. Box office open online at sffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema.
February 17–23
Showtimes 2:00, 5:30, 8:30
SF Film Society Cinema
1746 Post Street (Webster/Buchanan)
Showtimes 2:00, 5:30, 8:30
SF Film Society Cinema
1746 Post Street (Webster/Buchanan)