Morvern Callar (2002)

Samantha Morton (Minority Report and TV’s The Walking Dead) is mesmerizing and “gives the female performance of the year” (San Francisco Examiner) as the enigmatic Morvern Callar, in filmmaker Lynne Ramsay’s (Ratcatcher and We Need to Talk About Kevin) highly acclaimed and remarkably assured second feature, based on Alan Warner’s lauded debut novel.

When Morvern Callar wakes up one Christmas morning to discover her boyfriend dead by suicide, it’s the start of an unpredictable and unconventional process of self-transformation. Morvern’s form of grieving will be bewildering and shocking to most. She keeps her boyfriend’s death a secret. She passes off his just-finished novel as her own to publishers. She goes on holiday to Spain. Equal parts road movie and character study, Morvern Callar is as gripping and beautiful as it is dark and inscrutable.

The ever-present and extraordinary soundtrack—stemming from a mixtape made for Morvern by her boyfriend, and including songs by Can, the Velvet Underground, Aphex Twin, Stereolab, Nancy & Lee and more—is masterfully and audaciously woven into the narrative, acting as a voice for a protagonist who often chooses to remain silent. The film’s contrasting two main environments—cold, grey Scotland and arid, sunny southern Spain—are gorgeously captured by cinematographer Alwin Küchler (Ratcatcher and Steve Jobs).

Now, as it reaches its 20th anniversary and has been restored for this first-ever Blu-ray edition, Morvern Callar—a film like no other—is ready to bewitch again.

Directed by: Lynne Ramsay
Starring: Samantha Morton, Kathleen McDermott
2002 / 97 min / 1.85:1 / English 5.1 Surround