Morvern Callar

The second film from English director Lynne Ramsay seems to suffer ever so slight from that kind of indie-film pretentiousness that screams "trying too hard". Morvern's boyfriend commits suicide one night with no explanation leaving a novel on his desk with instructions for it to be published. Morvern removes his name and puts her own on it and gets it published. She then packs off to Spain with one of her friends they party and have fun or something. Samantha Morton can be an excellent actress (particularly in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown), but at times I find her a difficult actress to watch, and in this film she seems to be bordering on both. It features much of the visual grandeur that helped elevate her film Ratcatcher, but I feel it lacks the soul of her first film. Disappointing and slightly pretentious though this film may be, I nevertheless feel that Lynne Ramsay is a director to keep your eye on.