Midweek Mention... Margaret

Margaret

Dan: It is not often you get a a shirt collar in

Reegs: No, no, no.

Sidey: Coming

direct from a board meeting.

Dan: Yeah. It looks,

Sidey: not really, but I did have one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and that segues very nicely into this week's movie. This is the start of Matt Damon week.

Dan: Damon.

Sidey: because I think I saw some sort of article list of his, this particular journalist favorite performances of him.

And this film came in at number three on this particular list.

Margaret?

So I picked

it 'cause I hadn't seen of it. I hadn't heard of it or seen it. Yeah. I'd say he has two to three minutes of screen time.

Reegs: Okay.

Dan: I, well, I,

Sidey: Okay. In a two hour 30 plus film.

Dan: As, as you know, I didn't get to watch this, but I did. Look at the trailer for it, just so I was familiar

Sidey: interest to see what they put in the trailer.

Dan: well, they had Matt Damon in it for all of

Sidey: Probably the same time as he's in the actual

Dan: Okay. Yeah, it was, it wasn't very [00:01:00] much, but he was definitely featured in it, and it gave me the premise of what this was about.

But tell, tell all

Sidey: Well, I didn't know what it was about, but I am the only person here who's seen it, so this is gonna be a rather ham-fisted sort of journey.

Another

moth moth back? No, it's teeny winy moth. Moth through this movie. And the film sort of starts off and it gives you a sort of blur of the place. But I was trying to figure out, the score seemed to indicate that this was somewhere European, 'cause it was kind of like classical and blah. No it's not.

It's very, very New York and, and I would say this is a. Like the most New York movie I've ever seen.

Reegs: Okay.

Sidey: And so we're introduced to a character played by Anna Packin and her character is called Lisa.

Reegs: Right. I was expecting it to be called Margaret, I have to say.

Sidey: No, she's, no. Margaret is, I don't even know who Margaret is even in it because I, I can't.

No, that's she's called Monica. Monica Pat. Mr. Paterson.

Paterson Paterson. But we're introduced to Anna Pack, ands Lisa, and she [00:02:00] goes to this fairly posh, I wanna say, like, how do they describe their areas in New York? Like upper, upper West Side? I think it is. I think it's an Upper West Side school for seems to be fairly well to do families, but she's.

Kind, I would say just like kind of a typical teenage girl she's kind of manipulating a boys who's, who's quite into her to get him to help her with her maths tests. And that's the first time that we were introduced to Matt Damon is he calls her out on her. Cheating. So he's obviously copied or got the same answers as this fella.

And so she sits at the front of class. She's wearing a very short like skirt and she actually does give him the leg cross.

Reegs: All right. The old basic

Sidey: we're side on, so you can't go full epstein on it. And you can see that he, he maintains quite, he doesn't like flinch. So,

Reegs: And what year was this made? He's quite young. Is he? All right.

Sidey: not that young. He's got a, his, this is his side passing era. And we get that also in the main film,

Dan: he looks young in this.

Sidey: Yeah.

So. She's got sort [00:03:00] of form for like sort of bending the rules, blah, blah, blah, but she's not like complete wronging or anything. Then after the class, she meets the fella who's given her the answers to the test, and he's obviously smeared with her and he asks her out and she sort of like, plays with him a bit to say what you're, you're actually asking me out.

It's like, no, no, no, no. You know, and she's sort. Play pushing his buttons and whatever, and in the end she sort of sort of ambiguously says, okay, well I'll see you tonight, but she doesn't actually firm up any arrangements or anything like that. Then we see her at home in her apartment and she's phoning her mates saying, oh God, he asked me out.

And

Dan: that's what girls are really like

Sidey: Yeah, it's a little, a lot eye on how girls are. Yeah, I said that to Mr. Say is what you look like. from a broken home. She lives with her mother and her father lives in California, and there's constant talks about the movie of her going out to see him to go on this.

Horse riding sort of, I guess, city slicker style trip. So she's got to look the part, she thinks. So the real catalyst for what, for the big moment of the film is that she wants to go out into the shops in New York [00:04:00] City and find a cowboy hat. And she can't find one. And then she happens to see as someone's getting on the bus that the bus driver played by Mark Rolo is wearing a really like distinct.

Cowboy hat exactly what she needs, right? So she sort of waves at him and he's, as he is pulling away from the bus stop and he's like, oh, does she want to get on? And she's like, no. And you could, you're seeing it from his side where the bus door is closed, kind of muffled. You just hear the occasional word of like cowboy hat and, and he's what?

What you saying? What you saying? And he's obviously distracted and we get various shots of like the road coming up and there's some traffic lights and they go red. He's looking at her and like, what you doing? And he goes through the lights and Alice and Janie goes across the road and she's fucking moan down and it is very

Dan: is it Allison?

Sidey: Yeah. Yeah. The cast in this is like who's who? And she has mowed down and it is very effective the way they show it. And you sort of almost feel it, you know, they hear the, the sound of the [00:05:00] body going under the wheels and stuff, and he like obviously jams on the anchors and knows that something's gone wrong, but he is like apprehensive about going out and Lisa screams and she runs over and we see.

First of all, a leg under the car under the bus, and you're like, oh God. Someone under there. And then camera sort of pulls back and she's not under the bus, she's away down here.

Reegs: her

Sidey: Leg legs come off.

Reegs: Oh,

Sidey: been detached.

Dan: She's like a Lego leg. Is it?

Sidey: and

she's obviously in shock. Well, everyone's in shock, but No, none more so than Alison Jay's character and she's not called Margaret.

I thought she would've been the Margaret character. Yeah, it does feel

Yeah. So Lisa has to hold her hand and comfort her, and she's. Clearly confused. She's saying about her daughter, it turns out she doesn't have a daughter. She's saying you need to phone her. And then she's looking at her and talking.

She's like, I can't see you. Are my eyes closed? And oh God. And then there's people, there's, you know, it's New York City Rush Air. There's loads of people around there. There's a guy trying to use his belt as a tourniquet to, [00:06:00] and it fucking arterial blood, just like fucking spraying everywhere.

Reegs: Minging.

Sidey: And as she's talking, she sort of fades and fades and eventually dies.

And so we cut to. The aftermath being the initial sort of police investigation of what's happened. We see them giving their statements and Mark Ruffo looks at her and she sort of looks back at him and says, no, the light was was green. So she gives this she

Reegs: so she wa she was jaywalking then essentially now is

Sidey: Well, she was kind of running like she was causing the distraction, but also he should have been just watching the road and ignoring that. Yeah. The light was categorically red. Yeah. And she gives a false statement and he obviously fucking lies as well. So it comes to pass that he is basically like there's the investigation goes no further, he's exonerated.

There's no comeuppance for him. And then she starts to live with his guilt about she's then like, yeah, she actually tells her mother that she didn't [00:07:00] tell the truth and her mother. This is really fucked up, I think. Says, well, you know, he's got a family to provide for and stuff, and if you go now and like

Reegs: you're gonna just destroy

Sidey: gonna like ruin all that.

And you're like, sorry, what? So there's that, there's a whole subplot about her mother and her career. She is an actress. She's on Broadway doing this kind of like shitty little plays and she's trying to get recognition. She then has, starts a relationship with Jean Reno who turns up okay. To woo her.

And she seems in my humble opinion, like quite a neglectful mother. But

the film is north of two and a half hours. Yeah. And to me it's a fairly straightforward plot in that there's been a road to traffic

Reegs: Yeah. And the impact it's had on all the people involved

Sidey: there's some stuff going on and she's not told the, the, quite the whole truth about it.

It, it's long. It's really fucking long. And I couldn't help but think like, fuck, if Chris is watching this, he's gonna [00:08:00] be hating his life. So there's a fucking ton of characters and she gets, you can tell that her father's gonna let her down at some point. So she's got all this sort of stuff and it really, it's like a study of her and it takes a long time to resolve the actual bus incident.

All other stuff happens along the way. She phones Karen Kin, who just appears this guy called Paul and she says, oh listen, I want you to come over and take my virginity. So that happens. Alright. It is fairly like explicit.

Reegs: He's a good actor. Ki Kin. Kay was like,

Sidey: Kaylee was like, how old is she? Because I'm like, well, obviously old enough for this to be on the tell 'cause it's fucking like pretty full on.

But she had done true blood and stuff, so we'd seen quite a lot of this with her before. I dunno the chronology of which one came first. I think this came first.

So

she does that. Eventually her father does let her down, her mother, then they have a row because she's obviously traumatized and she's having trouble dealing with all this stuff and they have a route.

And her mother keeps obviously having to go out at night because she's doing these [00:09:00] performances on Broadway. And having a relationship now with Jean Reno. So she's quite absent and they have a row and she actually calls the mother, calls Lisa a cunt,

Reegs: Oh.

Sidey: Which was quite shocking to hear on the film.

So that is all bubbling along. she goes to the memorial for Alice and Janie. And there's a lady there that speaks and she's just a close friend and there's not a lot of family around. And it turns out, yeah, like I said, she doesn't have a daughter. That was just, I don't know, like the trauma was making her say weird stuff.

And they find out that she does have a cousin. And when they speak to a lawyer, he says, the only in this kind of case. And it's more complicated now because you lied in your statement that there's no one. The only person who can bring the case would be the next of kin, or so I think they get the friend who's ATM is able to bring the case, but the only beneficiary would be the cousin.

But the cousin hates her. Mm-hmm. So she had no interest at this point of doing anything. She wouldn't go to the memorial, any of that till she finds out she could get some money out of the bus [00:10:00] company as a settlement. So then she becomes all interested So, but then the, the driver of the story then is for Lisa. To be involved with a lawyer and this friend from the memorial to like, how can we sort of drive this forward? She goes to see Mark Ruffo and he gives that load of shit saying, no, you are, you are lying. All this the, the wife of Mark Ruffo thinks it's some kid that he's having an affair with. Yeah. So, no, no, it's, I was, I caused it, but you fucking we're responsible as well and he just won't accept it.

So her goal is that she just wants this guy off the road. And it turns out that the lawyer who initially advises them says, no one's gonna take this case. And then it turns out that Mark Ruffo has previous, he's done something bad before and he's got form not for killing someone, but he's got other offenses that have happened.

So he is like, that's good news. Like, let's get it done. So they, they recommend a guy who's like an expert in this kind of case, and he takes it forward. Their goal is to get him off the road.

Reegs: Mm.

Sidey: And she's very passionate about that. And what turns out is the, the bus [00:11:00] company will settle,

I think 350,000, but they will not take any disciplinary action against Mark Ruffalo.

Right. Because that would be like admitting guilt. Yeah. And you know, to me, if you're paying out you're guilty, but in an American culture that sort of

Dan: quite hush

Sidey: They're like, no, no, they're, people just don't see it that way. They just, that's just. Stop it, but they're not, no one's been actually guilty.

Reegs: Like the president, like paying, paying

Sidey: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Reegs: blow jobs to be covered up.

Sidey: Yeah. So she goes mental and they're having a conference call with the cousins on the phone. She's like, well, you know, I think that we should take the money you like fucking horrible bastard. And so it, like the film just goes on and, you know, it's very long.

I don't wanna labor that point, but. They just, there's so much going on, like looking at Anna Pack's character and the life, and she does kind of eventually reconcile with her mother. The big fight that they had where she'd used the C word they both did to each other happens because the.

The,

mom wants to take her to the opera and they have this fucking ding-dong about not liking the [00:12:00] opera and liking the opera, and it just gets outta hand.

So they go to the opera in the end and they reconcile. And Lisa just cries while she's watching it and they hug and people are like looking at 'em, what's going on. And as they leave, they're waiting to go home. And she says to her mom, she sees a bus down the road. And she says, I just wanna wait and see if it's him.

And it drives bus and it is Mark Ruff still working, still still driving his bus being reckless as fuck. So, yeah, that is like in a nutshell.

Dan: Damon, he, he's

Sidey: right. So he, he, he cro he crops up at the start when he calls her out on cheating on the test. Then like a actual massive piece of plot that I didn't mention is that she goes to see him having, so she's fucked.

Kevin kin, Kim kin, guess what happens when she goes to see Matt Damon? So she's, she bumps him a few times and she's, she's trying to get closer to him because he's just been like an adult who's treated her. Like fairly, you know, like honestly and fairly. So she sees him riding his bike and she starts talking about his bike, and then eventually she turns up.

On his doorstep and he [00:13:00] invites her in and they get closer and closer and closer, and you're like, don't do it man. Don't do it. And then you just cut to like her by the front door and he is like letting her out. And I said, LAR, it's just, it was just sex. You don't feel fucking weird about it. And he is like, oh, no.

Closed door. He is like, you idiot. You idiot, idiot.

Reegs: And

Sidey: then later on she does go to see him when he's with a, a, a colleague who's female. And she says, I had to pay for an abortion. And, he like bats it away. He's like, oh, right. And, and did you tell the guy? And as he, he says that she doesn't give him up.

She says, no, I haven't told him yet. He's like, well, you should absolutely let him know. Like, you know, and the women bat. Yeah, you should, you should tell the guy. She's like, I'm really sorry I brought it up. It's weird. It, I brought it up to you guys. And, and so he, he gets away with it. Be like, he went full Epstein on it.

Reegs: Yeah.

Sidey: He went full. So she's got all, she's quite manipulative. She does all that. I really, really, really didn't like this film. Yeah. It's, to me it was super, super pretentious. Okay. F like very, very new Yorky. Felt like it could have [00:14:00] been, you know, almost like a play. The cast is really good.

And the, to be fair, the performances are good. Anna Packard is excellent in it, but I just didn't like it. It was, it was so

Dan: sound very likable.

Sidey: She's not very likable. No, the mother's not likable. Jean Renno reno's kind of weird in it.

Dan: Even Mark Ruffo, who you like to like,

Sidey: yeah, he's an asshole in this.

They have a lot of scenes within a school where they have like classroom debates and it's just laning matches about Palestine and blah and, and Iraq and, and they're just screaming each other all the time. And you're like, oh man. Matthew Broderick's in it as the, the drama teacher. I can't stand him.

So that wasn't his fault. I just don't like him. And it's so overlong. I, at one point I paused it and I was like, oh shit, there's still so much to go.

You know, when you're not enjoying a film and you're like, oh man.

Dan: Still two hours to go.

Oh my God.

Sidey: But you know, there are good performs, but in terms of Matt Damer week, like sorely lacking on the Matt Damon

Reegs: it seems a strange one for that guy to have picked to be

Sidey: Yeah, I know.

It is like, I need to shoehorn this in somehow. I was trying to be like a [00:15:00] fucking hipster or something. Yeah.

Reegs: And what about awards or anything?

'cause it didn't make much of an imprint on me. I can't

Sidey: I don't know, to be honest. 'cause I, like you say, I hadn't heard of it, so I don't think that

Dan: even sounds so bizarre that none of the characters or any of the, like referred to Margaret that

Reegs: Yeah, the Margaret thing is bugging me. Why

Sidey: I'm not sure why it's, why it's called that good. You know, it, it's one of those films where it's probably. More of a hit with the critics than it is with the like Yeah. Audience at large. So like you say, did get a lot of like praise when it, when reviews and things performances are good and, and blah blah blah, but just not really

Dan: in Interesting when you said about the bus, they actually feel it, you know, the, the they obviously have a filmmakers techniques where they can make you. Really sense that the buses hit the woman and you've, you kind of shiver yourself or,

Sidey: well, you can see it coming to my off, right? The way they film, the way they show it. And then when they do the, the sort of little trick with the leg thing.

Oh, there she's like, she's under the, oh [00:16:00] no, she's not. She's fucking, it's like Black Hawk down when they

Dan: Yeah.

Reegs: yeah,

Sidey: fucking grim. I don't think it made a whole lot of money, like 600 grand really? But I think it had a very limited sort of, you know, number of screens that you could see it on. So I'd have to say like, it's a lukewarm recommend from

Reegs: Yeah,

It sounds it. Yeah.

Dan: Lukewarm for Matt.