This film is ultimately disappointing if not only for the lack of originality in the final scenes.
Blue Car (2003)
Tomatometer
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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
Reviews for Blue Car
Strathairn works miracles by finding the humanity in a deeply flawed man. And Bruckner is an amazement, piercing the heart without begging for sympathy.
When Meg looks mournfully over a box of scattered pictures (lighting the corners of her mind, no doubt), Blue Car, already maudlin, suddenly and terrifyingly becomes Purple Rain.
The false notes at the beginning give way to a darkly satisfying coming-of-age drama, capped by a truly cathartic poetry reading.
Story provides such a poignant and believable characterization of Meg that it easily touches your heart.
[Blue Car contains] a fantastic (and most likely star-making) performance by Agnes Bruckner and a script that never strikes a false or phony note.
A moody, almost somnolent film in which good performances outweigh the oppressive subject matter.
If three-dimensional characters, a well-rounded screenplay, doomed love and dramatic insight 'do it' for you, this film is sure to stimulate.
Not unlike Robert J. Siegel's Swimming, this little gem plays out an awful lot like adolescence.
Handles a difficult subject with an admirable mixture of sensitivity and frankness.
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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