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Blue Car

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Blue Car (2003)

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Reviews Counted:85

Fresh:69

Rotten:16

Average Rating:6.9/10

Consensus: A cautionary tale that rings true.

Runtime: 88 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Agnes Bruckner delivers an impressive, assured performance with BLUE CAR, an affecting coming-of-age drama from Karen Moncrieff. Bruckner is Meg, a beautiful teenager who is desperate to find... Agnes Bruckner delivers an impressive, assured performance with BLUE CAR, an affecting coming-of-age drama from Karen Moncrieff. Bruckner is Meg, a beautiful teenager who is desperate to find inspiration and guidance in her otherwise tumultuous life. At an early age, her father left her family behind. Now, there is only her edgy mother, Diane (Margaret Colin), and her increasingly aloof younger sister, Lily (Regan Arnold). Salvation appears to arrive in the presence of Mr. Auster (David Strathairn), Meg's reserved English teacher who takes an interest in Meg's poetry. It isn't long before both Meg and Mr. Auster begin to take an interest in each other, and as an approaching national poetry competition brings the two closer together, deeper feelings emerge. But Meg eventually learns a painful secret about Mr. Auster, which shatters her impressions of the man, and threatens to push her over the edge forever. Moncrieff, a former television actress turned writer-director, turns her potentially formulaic material into ultimately moving entertainment. This can be attributed to the performances of her lead actors. As the conflicted Meg, Bruckner is a perfect blend of budding sexuality and adolescent bitterness. As her damaged teacher, Strathairn is at turns deeply comforting and crushingly evil. [More]

Starring: David Strathairn, Agnes Bruckner, Margaret Colin, Frances Fisher

Starring: David Strathairn, Agnes Bruckner, Margaret Colin, Frances Fisher, Regan Arnold

Director: Karen Moncrieff

Director: Karen Moncrieff
Screenwriter: Karen Moncrieff
Producer: Peer J. Oppenheimer, Amy Sommer, David Waters
Composer: Adam Gorgoni
Studio: Miramax Films

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Reviews for Blue Car

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61 - 80 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Sad, spare coming-of-age story.

Full Review Source: Journal News (Westchester, NY) | comment Comment
05/03/03
Marshall Fine
Marshall Fine
Journal News (Westchester, NY)

A cozy, well-made vehicle without the capacity to carry everything that writer-director Karen Moncrieff piles into it.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
05/02/03
Bob Campbell
Bob Campbell
Newark Star-Ledger

In its studied, naturalistic way, the movie can nonetheless resemble a week of Oprah sobfests.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
05/02/03
Bob Strauss
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

A fine first film, and one you won't easily forget.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
05/02/03
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News

An unflinchingly honest coming-of-age portrait.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
05/02/03
Megan Lehmann
Megan Lehmann
New York Post

Blue Car may not be in the category of a classic, but it's certainly not a total wreck (more like a fixer-upper that's serviceable).

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
05/02/03
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

An overtly earnest, mopey first feature.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
05/01/03
E! Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A most impressive writing and directing debut for Karen Moncrieff.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/01/03
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Moncrieff offers a rare, unromantic take on female adolescence as sharp as a razor: It cuts right to the bone.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
05/01/03
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Ms. Moncrieff's low-key directing is matched by fine acting from Agnes Bruckner as Meg and David Strathairn as her mentor.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
05/01/03
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

Has the feel of a novel in which the characters linger in one's memory well after the book has been read.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
05/01/03
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today

Even with its drawbacks, Blue Car remains an intimate, thoughtful drama, with a performance no one is likely to forget.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
05/01/03
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Intimate, honest, if occasionally contrived.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
05/01/03
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday

A quietly devastating song for our lonely age.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
05/01/03
Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly

Moncrieff unfolds the tale with the bare-bones grace of an expert novelist, making subtle connections but never telling the audience how to feel.

Full Review Source: Citysearch | comment Comment
05/01/03
Justin Hartung
Justin Hartung
Citysearch

Ms. Moncrieff's mature direction distills nuanced performances from her actors to tell a well-balanced, compelling and enlightening story with refreshing candor.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
05/01/03
Rex Reed
Rex Reed
New York Observer

Blue Car is a beautifully crafted and well-acted drama about the tug and pull of yearning in the lives of a tormented young eighteen-year-old poet and her high school English teacher.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
05/01/03
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Strathairn's portrayal of a flawed man is so moving and Bruckner's Meg so painfully true -- a breakthrough performance -- that thoughts of Lolita are left far behind.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
04/30/03
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

A teacher-student tangle that uses its So-Called Lifeness as a beard for interactions that veer from everyday surreal to hauntingly injurious.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
04/29/03
Laura Sinagra
Laura Sinagra
Village Voice

No mere run-of-the-mill coming of age tale but a complex, poignant drama of a teacher-student relationship exquisitely acted.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
01/31/03
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve
 
 
61 - 80 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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Latest News for Blue Car

April 14, 2005: Actors Sign Up for a Taste of "Blood and Chocolate"
Annette Curtis Klause's "Blood and Chocolate" is being adapted for the big screen, courtesy of MGM/Sony. The Hollywood Reporter says its "about a teenage werewolf... More...

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