Morvern Callar is a decidedly strange if highly spell-biding drama that unfolds in an odd dream-like manner. It’s a film that features an understated yet troubled female lead, whose mundane life unfolds after the suicide of her boyfriend. It features startling uses of poignant, troubling, to subtle unsettling imagery throughout, with a creatively drifting /merging use of soundtracking. It’s a film that is extremely difficult to try & tie down, or wholly define in a few words- but I’ll try. Think a glummer, low-key British take on Muriel's Wedding, fed through with dreamy & at points surreal artiness. Here from Fun City Editions is a recent/first-ever Blu-Ray release of the film- taking in an HD scan of the film, and a few extras.

Morvern Callar was released in the year 2002- been contrastingly shot between a grey & bleak mid-winter Scotland, and a baking & dusty Spain. It was written and directed by Glasgow-born Lynne Ramsay. She started her filmmaking career in the mid-1990s with a series of short films taking in Small Deaths, Kill The Day, and Gasman. In 1999 her first feature-length Ratcatcher came out, which was a grim & arty drama following a boy on the squalid streets of 1970’s Glasgow.  Her other credits included the unsettling teen drama We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011), and the fraught low-key hitman drama/ thriller You Were Never Really Here (2017).
 
The film opens with a fixed shot of a female face which keeps being illuminated and then engulfed by darkness once again. In time we pan back and see a small, cluttered apartment- on the floor in the kitchen doorway is the woman, and a man- with the on  & off lighting coming from a small Christmas tree. We find out via a note on a PC in the apartment, that the man has committed suicide- and the twenty-something woman is his girlfriend rather unusually named Morvern Callar (Samantha Morton). In the note, we find out the dead man has finished his first novel, which he has dedicated to his girlfriend. He has also left her a mix tape of songs- with tracks from the likes of Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada, Can, and Stereolab.
 
Instead of calling the police, Morvern gets ready for a night out, heading into her local town to meet up with friends in a pub before heading out to a dance around a fire & taking drugs isolated farmhouse party.  As things unfold, we follow her rather irrationally/ immoral behaviour- as she deals with the issue of her boyfriend's body, his novel, and going on a Spanish holiday with her best friend Lanna (Kathleen McDermott)
 
As a character Morvern is decidedly shy, often vacant with possibly slight learning difficulties. She works with Lanna at the town's local supermarket- but dreams of bigger things. With the film coming off as a drifting-to-darting travel log and lightly troubling character study- which is fed through with low-key crime thriller tropes, and light touches of humour.
 
The whole film has a very lucid dream quality- and is filled to the brim with moments of haunting, moody, to at points troubling imagery. The music from the mix tape she was given by her boyfriend is used in a rather creative manner- as tracks suddenly drift in & out, and merge with foreground sounds in a wonderfully inspired manner.
 
Morton gives a wonderful understated, yet skilfully nuanced performance as the largely reserved, rather haunted, though oddly focused Morvern. With McDermott been a great fit as her more talkative & brash best friend. The small surrounding cast we meet throughout the film are all very good too.
 
I must say from the off I was pulled in & wholly intrigued by Morvern Callar- with this staying throughout the film's just over hour and a half runtime. The film like its lead character has a real feeling of unpredictability & off-hand quirkiness about it. It’s a picture you really need to know as little as possible about- so you can just drop in & take its haunting, lightly funny, at times troubling visual/ audio trip.

Moving onto this recent region-free Blu-ray. The HD print is both visually and audial excellent- meaning you'll want to experience it on the best set-up you can find. On the extra side, we get a commentary track from academics-come-cinematic commentators Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson. I’ve now heard a few tracks from these two, and as always, they do a great job here- blending worthy options & detailed research, with a true passion for film & moments of humour. They begin by talking about the filmography of director Lynne Ramsay- the overarching themes in all of her work, and how it sits on the edges of both mainstream and arthouse. We find out about the director’s background, and where she came from. They talk about the feeling of no object distant between us and Morvern, and how she is a fascinating outsider character.  Apparently, the film didn’t do great at the box office, though did get a largely very positive critical acclaim.  Later on, they compare how the film varies from its 1995 experimental source novel of the same name which was written by Alan Warner.  They talk about the film's relationship between gender and genre- and how the director wanted the films lead to have the feeling of a female wanderer- nodding back to Western film tropes.  All in all, another worthy track from these two- which is really worth a play.  

Otherwise, aside from both UK & US trailers we get a video essay from Chris O’Neill (7.29) this begins with a short reading from Warner novels, with the film’s opening scenes playing. After this we get a series of white text set against footage from throughout the film- and I’ll have to say I got little or nothing from this, as it really feels like much of it is stating the obvious about the presentation of the film & its themes.

Morvern Callar is an arty, yet wholly engaging drama-come-character study. It’s a film alive with moments of haunting and effecting imagery, as well as a daring & unpredictable unfold. I can wholeheartedly recommend the film, and this wonderful new Blu-ray release from the folks at Fun City Editions.