A full 6 years after it was supposed to have come out, audiences finally are now able to see Kenneth Lonergan’s sophomore feature ‘Margaret’. For me, it’s almost a surreal experience to have sat down and watched it. Delayed by lawsuits and infighting as well as an inability of the filmmaker to find a cut he could live with in the editing room, some had speculated that it might never end up on screens, especially when Martin Scorsese’s editor Thelma Schoonmaker couldn’t even do the job (not to mention Sydney Pollack and Scott Rudin). The thing was, Lonergan had final cut and Fox Searchlight was unwilling to fire a director with that status, so it was a bit of a stalemate. People have gotten to see the flick during this time. Martin Scorsese declared the cut he saw to be a masterpiece, and a few years back our very own editor Clayton Davis got to see an early cut, checking in at over 3 hours. The polite way of phrasing it is that he didn’t care for it and disagreed with Scorsese’s assessment. In all honesty, he absolutely hated it. Well, now in 2011 I’ve seen a much different cut and I come to you all to say…I think I loved it. Granted, it’s clearly still a work in progress, but this is likely as close as writer/director Lonergan was ever going to get it to being done. There’s a sense of randomness to some of the scenes, suggesting the edit is one of many considered, and the pacing is inconsistent…hell, there’s even a boom mike in one shot, but if you focus in on the story and the film itself, it’s kind of beautiful. Maybe I’m reaching, but in many ways this is the big city version of ‘The Tree of Life’, just without all of the religion and writing issues that torpedoed Malick’s vision for me. In all the ways that particular film didn’t work for me, this one did. It’s full of ideas and even more packed with emotion, making for an intense viewing experience.
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The official Oscar predictions have been updated and there has been a significant shift in certain categories. The techs remain more or less the same but the acting categories have made a shift. It seemed way too easy when I first took a crack at them a few days ago and I refuse to believe it could be crystal clear in October. If you want some big commentary, you can refer to the Oscar Circuit: “I Wish” from last week. Make sure to comment and include your own predictions in every category. Also, post your official predictions in our forum. You can start on the Oscar homepage or make your rounds from the menu. Read more on Oscar Predictions Updated!…
