Samantha Morton (Minority Report and AMC’s The Walking Dead) is “gives the female performance of the year” (San Francisco Examiner) as the enigmatic ‘Morvern Callar’, in filmmaker Lynne Ramsay’s (Ratcatcher, We Need to Talk About Kevin) highly acclaimed and remarkably assured second feature, based on Alan Warner’s lauded debut novel.

When Morvern (Morton) wakes up one Christmas morning to discover her boyfriend dead by suicide, it’s the start of an unpredictable and unconventional process of self-transformation. Morvern’s form of grieving will be bewildering and shocking to most. She keeps her boyfriend’s death a secret. She passes off his just-finished novel as her own to publishers. She goes on holiday to Spain.

Equal parts road movie and character study, ‘Morvern Callar’ is as gripping and beautiful as it is dark and inscrutable. The ever-present and extraordinary soundtrack–stemming from a mixtape made for Morvern by her boyfriend, and including songs by Can, The Velvet Underground, Aphex Twin, Stereolab, Nancy & Lee and more–is masterfully and audaciously woven into the narrative, acting as a voice for a protagonist who often chooses to remain silent. The film’s contrasting two main environments–cold, grey Scotland and arid, sunny southern Spain–are gorgeously captured by cinematographer Alwin Küchler (Ratcatcher, Steve Jobs). ‘Morvern Callar’ has been restored for this first-ever Blu-ray edition, presented in HD and loaded with bonus features, and is ready to bewitch again for its 20th Anniversary!

For thoughts on Morvern Callar, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/-AF7quHixtY?t=1646]

Video Quality

Morvern Callar debuts on Blu-Ray courtesy of Fun City Editions with a digital AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1 that is derived from a 2K restoration of the 35mm Interpositive. From the opening moments with the blinking Christmas lights, colors are faithfully saturated with deep, natural hues coming through with great accuracy. This opening gamut is a bit misleading considering the rather dreary state of the rest of Morvern’s life, but things get a bit more vibrant when the young ladies get out of the country and go to some warmer climates. The pale skin tones are natural and consistent with distinct features such as freckles easily distinguishable in closeup. Black levels hold up well with no major moments of crush or banding observed.

The presentation maintains the natural gritty film aesthetic with image stability and delineation staying robust. While the grain may be prominent, it is delivered with a refined look rather than a clumpy or frozen mess. Instances of print damage such as nicks and scratches are not a frequent sight with clarity and detail holding strong. The picture can run a touch soft in a handful of shots, but this is likely due to the nature of how it was originally captured. The film has been given a loving presentation that fans will greatly appreciate.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray comes with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that handles this unique soundscape quite well. The first thing to mention is that the dialogue does come through clearly in relation to the competing elements, but this is far from a dialogue-heavy picture as our character is just existing in her environment for much of the runtime. When dialogue is being spoken, it is very helpful to have the optional English SDH subtitles turned on to get all of the little nuances of the thick Scottish accents. Music is a notable part of this journey with a very effective soundtrack complementing things with top notch fidelity. There does not appear to be any signs of age-related wear to this such as sibilance or distortion. The environmental elements add a nice din of sound that make the experience feel more fully realized and three-dimensional. All in all, this is a great audio track.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Film critics & authors Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson provide a very thoughtful and informative commentary track in which they discuss the career of Lynne Ramsay, the connections throughout her work, the themes of the feature, the ways in which Ramsay conveys information, their personal response to this work and much more that is worthwhile.

Somewhere Beautiful: A nearly eight-minute video essay is provided by Chris O’Neill which details some of the ways in which the movie compares to the novel and analysis of the film’s presentation itself.

Trailer: There is a UK Trailer (2:29) and US Trailer (2:01) provided for Morvern Callar.

Final Thoughts

Morvern Callar is a formidable sophomore effort from Lynne Ramsay, who does not attempt to recreate exactly what made her first film so well received. Ramsay solidifies her voice as someone who can capture the interiority of a character through visual means. Samantha Morton is a true standout in the title role as this character who is not forthright in her emotions, as the actress accesses the subtleties that give you a roadmap to understanding her. The film is a bit of a puzzle, but it is one worth trying to solve. Fun City Editions has delivered a Blu-Ray featuring a great A/V presentation and a couple of favorable special features. Indie film fans should not pass this on by so quickly. Recommended

Morvern Callar is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Fun City Editions and MVD Entertainment have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.