there's something incredibly satisfying and refreshing about seeing a female lead character be unabashedly flawed. Morvern Callar is faced with something huge, and is told to Be Brave. And that's what she tries to do — but not necessarily with choices we would agree with or find right. She makes incredibly selfish, sometimes greedy choices that, if I'm being honest, I would have entertained if faced with the situation. The film is great with exploring what happens if we made the choices we are tempted to make but decide against.

SPOILERS---- I just finished watching the film, now I'm able to take a breath, recover from an extremely boring experience and state the facts about the first part of the story and the main character:A girl who's partner just committed suicide. She buries herself in denial by ignoring the dead body in her apartment and partying with her friend. When she finally faces the fact, she steals her dead boyfriend's manuscript ("which he wrote for her") and cuts the body in pieces. As you read these past lines you would probably think (as I do) that this story is really interesting. And it is. The character seems so complex, such a mystery. Well, this great idea is just WASTED with the film. SUPER SPOILER ALERT: nothing happens. The characters aren't given the opportunity to change, face obstacles, or face themselves at all. The little conflict that could arise is solved so easily and automatically that you can barely notice. You could argue that the author did not wanted to go with the "usual" Aristotelian story road. But, if you want to be that "bold" or "artistic", you need to find well thought solutions to the problems that arise from "alternative" storytelling. This movie doesn't. Uses of stereotypical concepts such as "the exotic country" with the "their exotic customs" or "the girl that notices the little things and is not burdened with normality" cheapen the film. Also the dodging of conflict like the written work of the dead boyfriend being "magically a great piece of work" and the publishers who "do not question the girl's veracity" just contribute to the film being of low credibility. So as I watched, I simply believed less and less in the story and of course, stopped caring for the character and whatever happened. The language of the images I think does not add anything to the story, they simply say: this is a cheap production, or translated in some interpretations: "this is a cool independent look". I think more thought and effort could have been given to the cinematography. In my opinion, this movie is a must see to get a great example of how to make a film absolutely disengaged from your audience. In conclusion: Anybody that says this film is "a revelation of the bohemian slums", "an honest inspirational take on death" or "a revolution of images...yada yada", would be the exact equivalent of someone in a modern art exhibition venerating a sponge sitting on an anvil while they fix the position of their monocle. Great acting.

Ramsey's second film after the totally impressive Ratcatcher has an air of aimlessness about it. I haven't read the book but the film has only one idea: how does a girl behave when she finds her boyfriend dead with slashed wrists on the floor of their flat? Callar's response is almost post-contemporary - what happens here could simply never have been conceived of more than a few years ago. We follow Samantha Morton (as Callar) through subsequent hazy meanderings with her girlfriend. We assume she is in severe temporary shock at the tragedy - so the creeping suspicion that she is simply a half-wit is disappointing, though all the soft drugs confounds the issue. Life seems impoverished here, as if the city has sucked something out of people. Even death is meaningless.The early part of the film looks dangerously like Catherine Breillat territory - the last thing we need is an original talent like Ramsey to start ripping people off - and I think she was only partly able to haul herself out of the Breillat groove. The tension lapses completely during the second half when Callar goes on holiday in Spain, and there is a silly scene when she meets publishers and passes herself off as the writer of her dead boyfriend's novel that we could have done without.On the whole, very nicely executed though; a fine performance by Morton, a great and atmospheric opening, and some cool music including Aphex Twin make it worth watching. Pity there wasn't more to it.

I have to admit that I stuck this one out thinking something would have to happen, besides the dead body in the first scenes... and her disposal of him. I was wrong. It was a cinema verite of Betty hits the Beach encased for the first part by Mordant Morven. I really don't care what young lassies from Scotland do these days, who thy screw, what drugs they take. Visually, the stroll through the Cabo de Gata in Andalucia was pleasant and surely the high point for me. The nadir was the chop shop for her dead boyfriend. As the movie came to a close I had two thoughts... 1. That's all there is? 2. Now I see why her boyfriend killed himself. Rename it. "Bare Bitch Boredom, or What I did on my trip to Spain." I'm such a sucker for sticking these things out.