Left: Samantha Morton is Morvern Callar Right: Morton with Lynne Ramsay and scenes from the film
while Lanna‘sjust happy with sun. sand and sex. Mor'vern‘s on a journey in that way. looking for something spiritual.’
And you can't help but feel Ramsay too has been on some sort of voyage of self-discovery. All her previous works were seen through the splinter of' a child‘s eye: darkly unsentimental and hinting obliquely at flashes of. adapted autobiography in a way only liuropean cinema is allowed. With .llort'er‘n ('u/lur. however. she seems to have taken a leap. and arrived somewhere. Yet. even as we're talking. she‘s hallway to somewhere else by way of her next project. Lovely Bones. another novel adaptation. which this time even makes it to America.
liven so. rumours persist that Ramsay‘s films are all so much kitchen-sink. clouded by back-street super-realist grey skies. If that‘s the case. someone clearly hasn‘t been watching hard enough. If they relate in any way. it's the age-old movie tug of upping roots. moving away and starting again. In the ()()s it was encapsulated in London. a mythologically swinging world away from northern drudgery. ln Ramsay's street. it‘s the little boy chasing alter the living-colour dream of a house in the country in R(ll‘(‘(ll('/I(’I‘. and the ‘sonrewhere beautiful‘ of Morvern. over the hills and far away. a million miles away from Lanna’s ‘good laugh‘. But then. Billy Liar never took the train. and Morvern (‘allar did. so that's that.
In truth. the bigger picture ol‘ .llnrrem ('u/lur suggests an elegy for a lost generation. a pilgrirn‘s progress with repetitive beats. pushing too hard. then harder. l'aster. louder.
‘lt‘s like (‘amusf Ramsay says. And now we're talking. 'lt‘s more punk rock.‘ Because. in its quest for enlightenment. .llm'rern ('ullur is many things. all scrambling over each other in the clamour to keep on keeping on. It’s Burt Lancaster in The .S'n'r’mmer. and Marcello Mastroianni in 'l'lre Beekeeper. growing old disgr‘acel‘ully. It‘s the cinema verite ol Zubriskr'e Point and The Last Movie. but without the hippy baggage and not a kitchen sink in sight.
Virtually the first thing you hear in .l’lm'rem ('irllirr is ('an’s ‘I Want More'. shattering the Play/or 'Iiiiluy rnuteness with its rnotorik rhythm and incongruoust skewed pop sensibility. a one hit wonder at odds with the times. Music is all over Morvern ('ul/ur: Boards of Canada. the Aphes Twin and so on.
Literally. it‘s the soundtrack to {Vlor‘vern's life: a batch of compilation tapes are her suicide-lover‘s almost parting-shot. a mis‘n‘match head-luck to define moments and make moods. Like Lee‘n‘Nancy singing ‘Some Velvet Morning‘. There will be a soundtrack album. Ramsay would‘ve quite liked Kraltwerk in there too. but you know how it is. She’d already put several grand of her own money into securing the rights of many of the tracks. and. with business stul'l' like that. there‘s only so far you can go.
‘Babyl‘ ()n the phone to her husband. the one she married this year in an uncharacteristically llashy show of whirlwind luvviedorn at Cannes. The evidence is there. third finger. left hand. as she grips the mobile. A cartoon-patterned plaster is rnessily folded round the first. Ramsay is asking the husband the name of the Michael Jackson song: you know the one. she nearly used at the end of Morvern ('u/lur. instead of the Mamas and the Papas one she actually did. It‘s from (Jill/re ll'ull. but it's not ‘Beat lt‘ or ‘Billy Jean‘. so what was it'.’
The husband calls back. It‘s ‘l)on't Stop Till you (iet linough‘. Of course. And the one she used instead‘.’ "This is Dedicated to the One I Love.’ Which it is. Baby!
Outside the white room. in a London Billy Liar never made it to. but Moryern (‘allar might. a young woman wearing head
scarf and hippy skirt paces up and down. lland outstretched. her
eyes seem both wide and narrow at the same time. like she‘s seen a few things and lived to tell the tale. 'Why'." she asks out loud. over and over. in rhythm with her step. ‘\\'hy‘."
(iood question. liasy one too. Because the only way is tip. lfp. And away. So go girl. Find somewhere beautiful. and more.
Morvern Callar, UGC, 14 Aug, 8pm; GFT, Glasgow, 17 Aug, 8.30pm. See review, page 40.
FROM CRACKER TO CALLER
SAMANTHA MORTON’s career continues to rise rapidly. Words: Miles Fielder
here's a nice symmetry to
Samantha Morton taking the
lead role as Morvern Callar in the Film Fest:vat's opening night film. Morton. who began acting in television dramas such as Cracker. Boon and Peak Practice from the age of 13. first came 0 the Cinema-going public's attention in the hard-hitting 1997 film- drama. Under the Skin. which picked up a‘.'.'ar<'ls when it premiered at the ElFF.
Since then Morton‘s been back to Edinburgh twice. appearing the 1999 British films Dreaming of Joseph Lees and The Last Wit/ow. Those films didn't make much of an impact outside of the festival circuit. despite Morton's typically striking performances.
But her combination of the intense and the dreamy has marked Morton out as an unusual and much sought after talent. Thus. 1999 also sat-r the release of two American films. Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdov-m iabove. bottom. for ‘.'.-'li!()ll Morton was nominated for an Oscar - :n a non-speaking part no less —- and Jesus' Son. And this year Morton hit the bill.)oards alongside Torr. Cruise in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster seieriee fiction thriller ,t/i’inority Reno/7 iabove. teen in x'ihich illll‘. her unsettling s :reen demeanour well served her. playing the role of a psychic who predicts murders tor the police.
Morton's been back and forth across the Atlantic ishe appeared in Pandaenion/um. Julian Temple's punk rock take on the romantic poets and has most recently been filming East of Harlem wrth director Jim Sheridan and co-star Paddy Considinel and is now in the position of being able to pick choice acting gigs. From television dramas such as Band of Gold. Emma and Jane Eyre to a leading role in one of the biggest American blockl_)usters. and one of the best British films of the year. that's quite a career arc.
iv. : . .‘ THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 39