#9: Margaret

Most people fall into two camps when they think of Anna Paquin. Either they see her as Rogue from the “X-Men” trilogy, a streak of white through her black hair. Or they picture her as Sookie Stackhouse from HBO’s “True Blood”, where she’s blonde and goes topless every five minutes.

Well in between those two roles she starred in a modestly-budgeted indie flick called “Margaret”. You probably haven’t heard of it… damn, I sound like a hipster now. But wasn’t I right? Filmed in 2006, it took five years to see the light of day (and another few months to reach Irish shores). Why? Because its two producers, who had a huge amount of clout in Hollywood, passed away within three months of each other. Talk about bad luck. This left the film in Limbo. Six years… but it was worth the wait.

“Margaret” is the quintessential post-9/11 film. Paquin plays Lisa Cohen, a care-free middle-class teenage girl living in a New York apartment. Her life is turned upside down as she witnesses (and is partly responsible for) a horrific accident. The focus isn’t so much on the tragedy itself, but how it affects Lisa. Quite understandably, she is initially traumatised, and becomes increasingly alienated and impulsive. Her frustration is tangible as she struggles to connect with those around her. 

In lesser hands, this film could easily have turned out mawkish and over-sentimental. But it works due to Paquin’s flawless portrayal of a thoroughly-flawed character. Lisa is going through the wringer. Like many teenage girls, she takes it out on the people around her. She’s bratty and sarcastic to her mother. She’s abrasive and abusive to her classmates. She belittles her English teacher (Matthew Broderick) in public. She throws her sympathetic Maths teacher off-balance at every opportunity (a fresh-faced Matt Damon – 2006, remember?). She’s egocentric: picturing herself as the epicentre of that terrible accident, instead of the real victim.

In short, she’s kind of a bitch. But we as the audience relate to her because of her deep flaws, not in spite of them. She’s a fully-realised, three-dimensional character – an rare commodity in Hollywood movies. We feel for her. We want her to push ahead in spite of all the obstacles. To take responsibility for her decisions. To cast off her grief. Over 150 minutes we watch Lisa grow up in front of our very eyes. And we realise perhaps that tragedy not always a curse, but a gift.

Tune in tomorrow night for the complete opposite of Margaret. A film where the characters are paper-thin, don’t develops and don’t really anything but the death count. But it has some awesome fight scenes, which makes up for everything else. It’s #8: winner of the “Fuck’s sake, Am I Dreaming This? This Movie is Insane!” award.