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Today, 13 October 2008

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Yesterday, 12 October 2008

» Watson blasts Bok jersey

» Luke's comments shock Saru

» Noakes 'corrects' Venter

» ANC 'save' Bok emblem

» 'Springbok emblem must go'

Most teenagers find life isn’t exactly a bed of cherries. Somehow, adolescent angst seems the most worrisome, the most depressing, and the hardest to deal with. People start treating you as a grownup in some areas while still considering you a child in other respects. And all this time, you’re still coming to terms with what it means to be an adult.

Of course, some have it harder than others, and Meg is one of them. Ever since her dad drove off in a blue car and left his family behind, she’s found it a little hard to deal with her life.

She ends up being a surrogate mother to her suicidal younger sister while trying to be the supportive friend her emotionally fraught mother demands of her. Somehow she manages — most of the time anyway — to keep her family together, without breaking down herself.

Her only release comes through her writing, which she shares with her sympathetic English teacher, Mr Auster and it’s this relationship which forms the core of the film. Meg wants a father more than anything else, and Mr Auster provides advice and encouragement.

Writer-director Karen Moncrieff is quoted in the publicity material as saying she is “most interested in people who are flawed, who search for answers and strive to be better. The characters in ‘Blue Car’ are flesh-and-blood human beings who make terrible errors, who show very bad judgement at times, and who struggle against themselves, but to whom we can ultimately relate.”

There’s no doubt in my mind that she succeeded in honestly depicting the characters she describes. But somehow that’s not quite enough for me. The film felt too much like every other coming-of-age drama, notwithstanding some good performances from Agnes Bruckner, as Meg, and David Straithairn, as Mr Auster.

Possibly this was because the film felt rather self-indulgent, at times even self-pitying; a lagging pace didn't help matters either.

A pity; but then this is Moncrieff's first feature film screenplay, and we can look forward to some interesting work from her in future.

For more information, check out the film's official website: http://www.miramax.com/bluecar/index.html

What the international critics are saying:

"The story is so well-acted and honestly written that after a while it stops bothering us that we know where it's going."
— Eric Harrison, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

"A most impressive writing and directing debut for Karen Moncrieff."
— Stephen Holden, NEW YORK TIMES

"There's nothing particularly original about the plotline, but the execution is pretty good and may be enough to keep you in your seat."
— Jean Lowerison, SAN DIEGO METROPOLITAN

"When Meg looks mournfully over a box of scattered pictures (lighting the corners of her mind, no doubt), Blue Car, already maudlin, suddenly and terrifyingly becomes Purple Rain."
— Walter Chaw, FILM FREAK CENTRAL