Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011)

[Matt]

I can't play the BD at the moment, but there are no extras at all listed on the packaging. The BD has the 150 min. theatrical cut only and the DVD has the 186 min. extended cut only (I did verify the length). The only options on the DVD are English subtitles on or off. There is an audio set-up option, but English Dolby Digital 5.1 is the only choice.

EDIT: The BD has no extras, just additional language options.

[MichaelB]

The UK version essentially consists of a PAL version of the DVD (so it runs 179 minutes), but otherwise that description is a perfect match - no extras at all aside from subtitles.

Though I suppose with the US version you could argue that the longer cut is the extra - and it's a pretty substantial one.

[wigwam]

Very substantial, but I loved You Can Count on Me's commentary track and was looking forward to this, especially if SpeedSpeach Scorsese was on it, fabled post-production aside

[MichaelB]

Presumably the ongoing legal issues prevent a director's commentary this time round?

[domino harvey]

We should not lose sight of the fact that actually getting the full cut in any official release is something of a miracle and the best possible "extra"

[mfunk9786]

Now that I've had validation that this is Lonergan's director's cut (or at least, that's the subtext I take from that NYC screening), I am chomping at the bit to see it. Despite my anger at FOX for what they've put this film through, I might actually, you know, buy it.

[R0lf]

wow, great - how long has it been playing there? It was here and gone in Dallas on one screen w/in one week - but it was so worth it on the big screen, especially the dark bedroom scenes and the finale

It started 14th of June and is still showing five times a day.

[Cold Bishop]

It's Phantom of the Paradise all over again!

[Cronenfly]

I have it right in front of me on my desk, what do you want to know?

I've heard some reports that the Canadian version of the blu-ray had a factory error, where the bonus DVD - despite having 'Extended Cut' written on the face of the disc - has only the shorter Theatrical version. Could you verify that your set includes the Extended Cut on the bonus DVD?

I can confirm that my copy from Amazon.ca (bilingual packaging, definitely the Canadian edition) has the Extended Cut on the DVD, not a replica of the shorter Theatrical version.

[Fierias]

I can confirm that my copy from Amazon.ca (bilingual packaging, definitely the Canadian edition) has the Extended Cut on the DVD, not a replica of the shorter Theatrical version.

Thanks Cronenfly. I'll put in my order in that case.

[skelly]

I'm in Canada and just played the "extended cut" DVD (not the "theatrical version" Blu-Ray) purchased at HMV and it was 150 minutes long.(bilingual packaging)

[criterionsnob]

I just watched my Canadian version of the DVD "extended cut" and realized after I watched it that it's just under 2.5 hours long. It's not the extended cut and the same length as the version on the blu-ray. Is there some kind of exchange program yet? I'm so frustrated right now.

(I purchased it at Best Buy and it has bilingual packaging as well.)

Edit: I called Fox and they said I'm not the first to call about this issue. They're "looking into it" and will get back to me.

[Professor Wagstaff]

David Edelstein's love letter to the director's cut, having panned the 150m version back in the fall.

I watched the director's cut myself last night. I'm still feeling punch-drunk by the experience and would like to watch it at least once more before I get into a discussion, but it is spectacular.

[willoneill]

Slightly off the topic of the film itself, but can anyone give me tips on how to find this movie on US online retailers. I've tried a few (ig. B&N), and all I get in my search results is every movie starring an actress named Margaret. Or Gone WIth the Wind. But no "Margaret". I know where I can get the film here in Canada, but I'd like to avoid any recall/replacement issues which seem to have cropped up here.

[Professor Wagstaff]

I ordered mine through Amazon here in the states and had the correct disc.

[wigwam]

same as Wagstaff and I believe in the US it's only available through Amazon

Amazon +1 best seller

to avoid actresses named Margaret also put in "Lonergan" or 2011 or Paquin

[mfunk9786]

It's actually an Amazon exclusive. Link

[franco]

I ordered from Amazon US. They better not pull a smart ass on me by sending me a Canadian copy.

[wigwam]

Spoiler

was she even listening during the poem?!?!!?!?

[mfunk9786]

I'll have more to say about this film soon, I'm sure, but I found the extended cut (my only viewing of the film overall thusfar) to be incredibly challenging and profoundly moving. It's a decidedly uncinematic cut, as one can see moments when music may have been considered, or a scene may have been truncated (to fit the occasional abrupt-cut style Longergan employs) in a shorter cut but continues on here. There are subplots, the one involving Jean Reno chiefly, that don't necessarily have as clear a place in the film as others, but I shudder to think that having to cut this down by a half hour might result in Lisa's story being given short shrift in order to leave in some of her mother's subplot(s), so I can appreciate it all being there and the purpose it serves in the large thematic scheme. The film explores our insistence on inserting ourselves into fate, into asking questions where there are no answers, and finding our place within the gears of the giant ticking clock of life. Anna Paquin is fantastic, fantastic, fantastic - her line readings are always spot on, and it is crystal clear that she understood her role to the bones and didn't need to take a single second out to ask for her motivation. Lisa is a very real teenager going through something that most teenagers will never have to consider. While her and her peers wrestle through the big questions in class, and she wrestles with her big questions in her personal life, she makes the doomed assumption that everything she touches becomes magnified, and somehow is more meaningful than pure coincidence punching someone innocent squarely in the gut. It's heartbreaking to watch as this realization dawns on her when she's in too deep to the consequences of her mistaken assumption. This film is something special.

[tavernier]

Armond loathes it. Now carry on.

[mfunk9786]

Plus, Lonergan breaks my one cinematic rule: No movie over two-plus hours should use slow-motion

Just gonna let that sit and breathe for a bit

[knives]

Eh, I do agree that making longer and already very long film is probably not something a film maker should go out of their way to do.

[mfunk9786]

How about a filmmaker makes the film he/she wants regardless of length? Ebert's famous quote, etc

[knives]

I'll side with Skolimowski on this one and say it is very rare for a film to genuinely need to be over 90 minutes.