Margaret (Extended Cut) (2011) Audio Commentary

Rob Caravaggio Commentaries

Lisa Cohen, interested in her teacher.

RC-2013-104: Margaret (Extended Cut) (2011)
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It took a while, but Kenneth Lonergan's follow up to You Can Count On Me finally got seen by audiences in 2011. During the marathon commentary (for, Lonergan's extended cut stretches past the three-hour mark), I go into the legal wrangling that delayed the release of Margaret. I comment on the theatrical cut's benefit's and shortcomings before declaring that Lonergan's cut—the film he turned in—is a masterpiece. (Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker oversaw the editorial paring-down process that produced the theatrical cut, and though Lonergan ultimately approved, I will argue in this episode, he knew his cut was better.) After pointing out some of the differences between the cuts—which include everything from sound design to score to whole storylines that were excised—I settle into gush mode and praise the film's fresh approach to familiar themes. I spend the rest of the episode (when I'm not sticking up for Anna Paquin) telling the world why Jeannie Berlin's performance may be the most under-appreciated supporting turn in the history of moving pictures. Lonergan himself, playing Lisa Cohen's distant dad, is chubbier than you probably imagined he'd be, and Matt Damon looks younger than you thought he'd look. This movie is weird like that. Grab your popcorn and a diet cola, and settle in—this three-hour urban opera is a doosie... And don't call me honey, okay?
Listen to the mp3. Or turn your life into an iTunes opera—Bravi!